Portrait of John Holland, Governor of Madras
Framed: 4 3/8 × 3 1/16 inches (11.11 × 7.78 cm)
- 128
John Smart—Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Mr. Holland.
The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 139, as Mr. Holland.
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 John Holland, Governor of Madras.
By presenting the sitter with his back to the viewer, Smart showcases Holland’s freshly powdered hair tied into a bag wig, evidenced by the powdery residue on his brown coat. After 1795, hair powder was taxed at one guinea. However, those not exempt from this tax who continued to use it were nicknamed “guinea pigs.”
Charles William Dyson Perrins (1864-1958), Worcestershire, by 1929-1958 [1];
Purchased from his posthumous sale, Important English and Continental Miniatures and Fine Watches, Sotheby’s, London, December 11, 1958, lot 63, as A Young Man Called Mr. Holland, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1958–1965 [2];
Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.
Notes
[1] According to Basil Long, British Miniaturists (London: Holland Press, 1929), 407, “Mr. Dyson Perrins has several good miniatures by Smart. One, “Mr. Holland,” which is signed and dated 1806, is unusual in its pose: the sitter is in profile with his back to the spectator; a mauve curtain is seen. As this miniature seems to show a costume of an earlier date than 1806, it is perhaps a copy by Smart from another portrait.”
[2] The annotated catalogue for this sale is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. Lot 63 is inscribed with “£360,” and next to the reproduction on the frontispiece, “by: John Smart.—£360. Leggatt.” Archival research indicates that the Starrs purchased many miniatures from Leggatt Brothers, either directly or with Leggatt acting as their purchasing agent.
Basil Long, British Miniaturists (London: Holland Press, 1929), 407, as Mr. Holland.
Catalogue of Important English and Continental Miniatures and Fine Watches (London: Sotheby’s, December 11, 1958), 18, (repro.), as A Young Man Called Mr. Holland.
Daphne Foskett, John Smart: The Man and His Miniatures (New York: October House, 1964), 68, pl. 27, (repro.), as Mr. Holland (called).
Daphne Foskett, “Miniatures by John Smart,” Antiques 90, no. 3 (September 1966): 357, (repro.), as Mr. Holland.
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 139, p. 49, (repro.), as Mr. Holland.
Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “John Smart, Portrait of John Holland, Governor of Madras, 1806,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1630.
