Portrait of a Man

Ethel Louisa Caroline Pauline Floersheim (1876–1959), Hove, Sussex, England, by 1950 [1];

Purchased from her sale, Objects of Art and Vertu, Miniatures, Watches, Faberge Cigarette Cases, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 26, 1950, lot 104, as A Gentleman, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1950–1958 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes:

[1] Ethel L. C. Floersheim was born in 1876 to Louis Ferdinand Floersheim (1835–1917) and Julia Frances Ellis Eva Baddeley (1848–1931). In 1901, Ethel (along with her two siblings) inherited the family’s Pennyhill Park estate and £5,000 each. She never married and died in 1959 at the age of 83. With thanks to Maggie Keenan for this research.

[2] The lot is described as “Portrait of a gentleman, by J. Meyer, R.A., three-quarter face to the left, wearing blue coat and powdered wig, oval, 2in. high, in gold frame set with diamond sprays, in shagreen case.” This miniature is described in an annotated sale catalogue at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations were most likely made by Mr. or Mrs. Starr, with a circled lot number, an “X,” “40,” and a cursive “Leggatt.” Annotations indicate that it was purchased for £40 by Legatt. Two other miniatures were purchased from this sale by Leggatt for the Starrs: George Engleheart, Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1785, F58-60/43, and Richard Cosway, Portrait of a Man, Probably William Nathan Wright Hewett, ca. 1780 F58-60/178, both of which were illustrated in the catalogue. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.