Portrait of Valentine Morris, later Governor of Saint Vincent

Possibly an unknown woman, by July 31, 1952 [1];

Possibly purchased from Old English Silver, Fine Portrait Miniatures, and Objects of Vertu, Sotheby’s, London, July 31, 1952, lot 109, as Colonel Valentine Morris, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of John W. (1905–2000) and Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1952–1965 [2];

Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.

Notes

[1] In the Sotheby’s July 31, 1952, sale, “A Lady” sold lots 107–109, including two portraits of Valentine Morris.

[2] In the sales catalogue, the miniature is described as “A fine miniature of Colonel Valentine Morris, by John Smart, signed and dated 1765, head and shoulders three-quarters dexter, gaze directed at spectator, powdered hair en queue, wearing blue coat with gold facings and white cravat, oval, 1 1/4 in., leather case. A small Miniature of Smart’s early period of the same sitter as that in the preceding lot. Graham Reynolds in English Portrait Miniatures illustrates on plate XIX another small example dated 1767.” Note that the 1767 miniature illustrated by Graham Reynolds is identified as “an unknown man” and only superficially resembles the other portraits of Morris. The incorrect title of Colonel Valentine Morris—referring to Morris’s father, who died in 1743, twenty-two years before this miniature was painted—suggests that this sale may refer to the miniature of the same date at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is also titled “Colonel Valentine Morris,” whose dimensions more closely correspond to those listed in the sale catalogue. However, the Starrs commonly purchased multiple miniatures in a single sale, and the Starrs acquired lot 114 in the same auction. According to Art Prices Current (1952–1953), A171, no. 4031: “John Smart: Colonel Valentine Morris, head and shoulders 3/4 sinister, gaze directed at spectator, hair en queue, wearing blue coat with gold facings and white cravat, signed, dated 1765, oval, 1 1/4 ins. (Leggatt), £45.” Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. Out of the three works purchased by Leggatt Brothers in the July 31, 1952, sale, two are now in the Starr collection. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, NAMA curatorial files.