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Portrait of a Man

Artist John Smart (English, 1741 - 1811)
Date1794
MediumWatercolor on ivory; Gilt copper alloy case with fausse montre top
DimensionsSight: 2 11/16 × 2 1/4 inches (6.83 × 5.72 cm)
Framed (case closed): 3 7/8 × 2 1/2 inches (9.84 × 6.35 cm)
Framed (case open): 2 15/16 × 5 15/16 inches (7.46 × 15.08 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Starr Foundation, Inc.
Object numberF65-41/35
InscribedInscribed on recto, lower left: “JS. / 1794 / I”.
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 128
Collections
DescriptionPortrait miniature of a many with powdered hair wearing a brown coat before a cloud sky background.Exhibition History

John Smart—Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Gentleman.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 127, as Unknown Man.

John Smart: Virtuoso in Miniature, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 21, 2024–January 4, 2026, no cat., as Portrait of a Man.

Provenance

John W. (1905–2000) and Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1965;

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

Published References

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 125, p. 45, (repro.), as Unknown Man.

Blythe Sobol, “John Smart, Portrait of a Man, 1794,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 4, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1602.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


recto overall
John Smart
1790
F65-41/31
recto overall
Andrew Plimer
1787
F58-60/181
recto overall
George Engleheart
ca. 1785
F58-60/37
case interior side B recto overall
Charles Robertson
ca. 1805
F58-60/122
recto overall
John Smart
1791
F65-41/32
recto overall
John Smart
1795
F65-41/36
recto overall
John Smart
late 19th-early 20th century
F58-60/139
recto overall
John Smart
1778
F65-41/19
recto overall
John Smart
1773
F65-41/14
recto overall
John Smart
1779
F65-41/20