Portrait of a Boy

With an unknown owner, by 1949;

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Fine Sicilian Jewellery, Objects of Vertu, Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, October 27, 1949, lot 126, as by Abraham Daniel, Miniature of a Boy, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1949–1958 [1];

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

Notes

[1] According to the sales catalogue, “Other Properties” sold lots 70–126. The lot description states, “An Attractive Miniature of a Boy, by Abraham Daniel of Bath, head and shoulders three-quarters dexter, gaze directed at spectator, wispy flaxen hair falling to a white collar over a brown coat, pale blue vest, mounted as a brooch, 1 3/4 in.” The annotated catalogue for this sale is located at University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. The annotations include a circled lot number, checkmark, “Leggatt” and “20.” According to an attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 126 for 20 pounds. 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.