Portrait of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Framed: 3 3/16 × 2 7/16 × 1/4 inches (8.1 × 6.19 × 0.64 cm)
- 128
Probably Exhibition of Works by The Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School, including Oil Paintings, Miniatures, and Drawings, Royal Academy, London, Winter Exhibition, 1879, case P, no. 23, as Charles, 1st Marquis of Cornwallis.
Probably Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1889, case X, no. 24, as Charles, Marquess Cornwallis.
Probably Exhibition of the Royal House of Guelph, The New Gallery, London, 1891, case J, no. 974, as Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis.
John Smart, Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Charles, 2nd Earl of Cornwallis.
The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 125, as Charles, 2nd Earl of Cornwallis.
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 Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis.
Probably Jeffery Ludlam Barton Whitehead (1831–1915), Kent, England, by 1879–at least 1891 [1];
With an unknown owner, by November 13, 1950 [2];
Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Objects of Art and Vertu, Watches, Miniatures, and Coins, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, November 13, 1950, lot 89, as Portrait of Charles 1st Marquis Cornwallis, by James, 1950 [3];
Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1965;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.
Notes
[1] Whitehead lent a portrait to the Royal Academy’s Winter Exhibition in 1879. Jeffery was a banker and member of the Stock Exchange and an avid collector of portrait miniatures. However, his sale of miniatures did not include the present portrait, see Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings; the Property of Jeffery Whitehead, Esq., Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, August 6, 1915.
The portrait of Cornwallis once owned by Whitehead is the only version whose location today remains unknown, increasing the likelihood that the same portrait is the one now in the Starr Collection. The date, description, and size also increase the probability of its Whitehead provenance.
[2] In the Christie’s November 13, 1950, sale, “Different Properties” sold lots 66–101.
[3] It was described in the sales catalogue as, “Portrait of Charles 1st Marquis Cornwallis—by John Smart, signed with initials and dated 1792–three-quarter face to the left in scarlet military coat with blue facings and gold epaulettes, wearing the badge and ribbon of the Garter–oval, 2 3/4 in. high.” The catalogue for this sale is located at University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. According to the annotated catalogue, “James” bought lot 89 for “125.” Art Prices Current (1950–1951) confirms that “James” bought lot 89 for £131 5s.
Royal Academy, Exhibition of Works by The Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School, Including Oil Paintings, Miniatures, and Drawings, Winter Exhibition (London: William Clowes and sons, 1879), 65, case P, no. 23, as Charles, 1st Marquis of Cornwallis.
Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures (London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1889), 34, as Charles, Marquess Cornwallis.
Exhibition of the Royal House of Guelph (London: New Gallery, 1891), 170, as Charles, 1st Marquess Cornwallis.
Catalogue of Objects of Art and Vertu, Watches, Miniatures, and Coins, (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, November 13, 1950), lot 89, as Portrait of Charles 1st Marquis Cornwallis.
Antiques 90 (July–December 1966): 356, fig. 10, (repro.), as Charles, first Marquis and second Earl Cornwallis.
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 125, pp. 31, 44, (repro.), as Charles, 2nd Earl of Cornwallis.
Maggie Keenan, “John Smart, Portrait of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, 1792,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1598.
