Portrait of a Man, Possibly John McCluney
Framed: 2 15/16 × 2 1/4 inches (7.46 × 5.72 cm)
The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 222, as Major John McCluney.
Henry Walters (1848–1931), Baltimore, by 1931 [1];
Inherited by his wife, Sarah (Sadie) Wharton Green Jones Walters (1859–1943), New York and Baltimore, 1931–1941 [2];
Sold at her sale, The Mrs. Henry Walters Art Collection, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 25, 1941, lot 588, as Major John McCluney [3];
Norvin Hewitt Green (1893–1955), New York, by 1955;
Sold at his posthumous sale, Early American Furniture, Important Miniatures and Prints, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, October 15, 1955, lot 238, as Major John McCluney [4];
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.
Notes
[1] In Early American Painting (New York: The Century Co., 1932), the miniature is reproduced as “The Henry Walters Collection.”
[2] Sarah was first married to Pembroke Jones (1858–1919) of Wilmington, NC, in 1884. After his death, she married her lifelong friend, Henry Walters in 1922.
[3] Description from the catalogue: “Major John McCluney, James Peale, American: 1749–1831, Waist-length portrait to half right, wearing blue coat, white waistcoat and frilled jabot. Signed with initials J.P. and dated 1794. Locket frame. Oval: Height 2 1/2 inches. John McCluney of Pennsylvania served in the War of 1812 as Major of the 22nd Infantry 1812–13.”
[4] Description from the catalogue: “Major John McCluney, James Peale, American: 1749–1831, Waist-length portrait to half-right, wearing blue coat, white waistcoat and frilled jabot. Signed with initials J.P., and dated 1794. Locket frame. In case. (Green Estate). Oval: Height 2 1/2 inches. John McCluney of Pennsylvania served in the War of 1812 as Major of the 22nd Infantry 1812–13. Collection of Mrs. Henry Walters, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc, 1941.”
Frederic Fairchild Sherman, Early American Painting (New York: The Century Co., 1932), p. 217, pl. LV, as John McCluney.
The Mrs. Henry Walters Art Collection (New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, April 25, 1941), 119, (repro.).
Early American Furniture, Important Miniatures and Prints (New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, October 15, 1955), 51, (repro.).
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), 137, 265, (repro.), as Portrait of a Man.
Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): 438, (repro.), as Major John McCluney.
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 222, p. 73 (repro.), as Major John McCluney.
Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 171, (repro.), as Portrait of a Man.
Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “James Peale, Portrait of a Man, Possibly John McCluney, 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. 1, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.3104.
