Portrait of a Man, Probably William Nathan Wright Hewett

Possibly William Nathan Wright Hewett (1756–1825), Bilham Hall, Yorkshire, about 1780–1825;

Possibly by descent to his son, Sir Prescott Hewett, Bt. (1812–1891), London, 1825–1891 [1];

Possibly by descent to his grandson, Colonel Prescott Hallett (1881–1932), Chertsey, Surrey, England, by 1927–1932 [2];

Possibly by descent to his son, John Prescott Hallett (1909–1982), Chertsey, Surrey, England, by 1932 [3];

Ethel Louisa Caroline Pauline Floersheim (1876–1959), Hove, Sussex, England, by 1950 [4];

Purchased from her sale, Objects of Art and Vertu, Miniatures, Watches, Faberge Cigarette Cases, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 26, 1950, lot 90, as Portrait of W. N. W. Hewett, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1950–1958 [5];

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

Notes

[1] During an exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1889, Sir Prescott Hewett was listed as the owner of a miniature depicting his father, which was entitled W. N. W. Hewett, by Richard Cosway. However, there are two known portraits of W. N. W. Hewett by Cosway, and it is possible that the Nelson-Atkins miniature followed a different path of ownership. John Lumsden Propert, Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, exh. cat. (London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1889), 81. See Important Gold Boxes, Objects of Vertu, Including Vinaigrettes (London: Christie’s, May 22, 2001), lot 166, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-2047084.

[2] Sir Prescott Hewett had three children. He was only briefly outlived by his son, Sir Harry Hammerton Hewett, 2nd Bt. (1853–1891), who died childless. His two daughters were Maud Sandys Hewett (1857–1927), who married William Charles Hallett in October 1880, and Agnes Sarah Hewett (1850–1926), who later changed her surname to Prescott-Hewett. Agnes never married and was recorded living with her sister and brother-in-law in the 1911 census. Maud had three children, including one son, Colonel Prescott Hallett, Sir Prescott Hewett’s sole male grandchild, who was the most likely inheritor of the miniature regardless of which of his children held the miniature during their lifetime, if it hadn’t already been sold. He would most likely have inherited it by the time of the death of his mother, Maud Sandys Hallett. She was buried on December 2, 1927. “Sir Prescott Gardner Hewett, 1st Bt,” The Peerage, May 26, 2022, https://www.thepeerage.com/p74200.htm.

[3] If the Nelson-Atkins miniature was still held by a family member, it was probably passed down to John Prescott Hallett by or soon after his father’s death on September 4, 1932, and then sold, either directly or indirectly, to Ethel L. C. Floersheim. This may have occurred sometime after the date of Hallett’s 1944 court martial, when the then-Acting Wing Commander was charged with stealing £200,000 from the Mahabir of Nepal, stripped of his military title, and sentenced to twelve years in prison. Hallett, who at the time of the crime was a member of staff of Lord Louis Mountbatten, then Viceroy of India, apparently convinced the Mahabir that he had the authority to sell him part of the country of Burma (which was at that time controlled by Japan). The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England, ref: MEPO 3/2397.

[4] Ethel L. C. Floersheim was born in 1876 to Louis Ferdinand Floersheim (1835–1917) and Julia Frances Ellis Eva Baddeley (1848–1931). In 1901, Ethel (along with her two siblings) inherited the family’s Pennyhill Park estate and £5,000 each. She never married and died in 1959 at the age of 83. With thanks to Maggie Keenan for this research.

[5] The lot is described as “Portrait of W.N.W. Hewett, Esq., of Bilham Hall, Yorks., by Richard Cosway, R.A., three-quarter face to the left, wearing blue coat with red collar, white vest and stock and powdered hair, oval, 1 7/8 in. high, gold frame.” This miniature is described in an annotated sale catalogue at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations were most likely made by Mr. or Mrs. Starr, with a circled lot number, an “X,” “95,” and “Leggatt.” Annotations indicate that it was purchased for £95 by Leggatt. Two other miniatures were purchased from this sale by Leggatt for the Starrs: George Engleheart, Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1785, F58-60/43, and Jeremiah Meyer, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1770, F58-60/89, the former of which was illustrated in the catalogue. 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.