Portrait of a Man

Artist After John Smart (English, 1741 - 1811)

Formerly attributed to John Smart (English, 1741 - 1811)

Datelate 19th-early 20th century

MediumWatercolor and gouache on ivory; Gilt copper alloy case

DimensionsSight: 1 1/2 × 1 3/16 inches (3.81 × 3.02 cm)
Framed: 1 15/16 × 1 5/8 inches (4.92 × 4.13 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr and the Starr Foundation, Inc.

Object numberF58-60/139

InscribedInscribed on recto, lower left: "1771".

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionPortrait miniature of a man with powdered hair wearing a gray-green coat before a sky background.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

The medals (nos. 1 & 2) commissioned to honor John Smart’s years as vice president of the Society of Artists in Great Britain further demonstrate his artistic reputation, which he was keen to promote. Smart probably made the wax impression of his own profile from the medals (no. 3), demonstrating a lifelong fascination with his legacy, echoed in his numerous self-portraits. A century after Smart’s death, renewed demand for his work led to an increase in copies of his miniatures (no. 4).

Provenance

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

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

Published References

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 265, as artist unknown, after John Smart, Portrait of a Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 150, p. 52, (repro.), as after John Smart, Unknown Man.

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