Portrait of John “Mad Jack” Fuller

With the artist, Richard Cosway (1742–1821), London, by around 1790–1821;

Inherited by his wife, Maria Cosway (1760–1838), London and Lodi, Italy, 1821–at least 1830 [1];

Probably gifted to her husband’s cousin, Sir William Richard Cosway (1784–1834), Bilsington, Kent, after 1830–1834 [2];

By descent to his son, William Halliday Cosway, later William Halliday Halliday (1828–1898), Devon, England, 1834–1898 [3];

By descent to his daughter, Helen Sybella Hoffmeister (née Halliday, 1861–1957), Devon, England, by 1898 [4];

Given to her son, William Reginald Halliday (1886–1966), London, by 1953 [5];

Purchased from his sale, Objects of Art and Vertu, Miniatures, Watches, and Coins, Christie’s, London, May 18, 1953, lot 73, as Mr. Fuller, by Hans E. Backer, London, 1953 [6];

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] According to George C. Williamson, Richard Cosway, R.A. and his Wife and Pupils (London: George Bell and Sons, 1897), 90, Maria Cosway’s inventory after her death included a “portfolio of drawings by R. Cosway.”

[2] In her will, Maria Cosway writes, “I leave the whole collection of drawings of my husband Richard Cosway to his cousin Sir William Cosway those in portfolios two cases all with twelve drawings in [illeg.] and the other with miniatures a case with a picture of Cupid [illeg.] a snuff box with a Lady’s portrait all the oil paintings except the portrait of Paoli of all these there is a list and the drawings are numbered. . . .” “Will of Baroness Maria or Maria Luigia Caterina Cecilia Cosway otherwise Maria Hadfield,” The National Archives, Kew, no. 7194184, ref. PROB 11/1919/339. This codicil to her will was dated 1830. William died in 1834, four years before Maria, so the drawings were either gifted to William between 1830–1834, or they went straight to his son, William Halliday Cosway. See, also, “Will of Sir William Richard Cosway of Bilsington Priory, Kent,” The National Archives, Kew, no. 7194258, ref. PROB 11/1833/401.

[3] After 1872, William Halliday Cosway changed his family’s last name to Halliday, due to an inheritance law which prevented him from acquiring their Glenthorne Estate.

[4] Helen married Charles Reginald Hoffmeister (1855–d. before 1939) in 1886. Hoffmeister adopted the last name Halliday and thus continued the family line. The Witt Library, Courtauld Institute, includes an illustration of this miniature. It is described as, “MR. FULLER. Collection of Miss Cosway.” According to Williamson, Richard Cosway, 1–2:

Richard Cosway appears to have been an only son, and to have had but one near relation, a certain William R. Cosway, who was, however, no closer in relationship than a second cousin. . . . His daughter, Miss Cosway, is still living, but his son, who assumed in 1872, by royal license, the name of Halliday, under directions of the will of the late Simon Halliday, his grandfather, and was therefore known as William Halliday Halliday, died in 1898. . . . Miss Cosway possesses many of Cosway’s miniatures.

This “Miss Cosway” is probably Helen Sybella Cosway, William R. Cosway’s granddaughter not daughter, whose last name was changed to Halliday sometime after 1872. See n. 3.

[5] The sale states, “The following are the Property of Sir William Halliday to whom they have descended from the artist’s brother Sir William Cosway, whose son assumed in 1872 the name of Halliday. The named miniatures are listed in ‘Richard Cosway,’ by G. C. Williamson, page 110.” This William Halliday was initially believed to be William Benjamin Halliday (1868–1931) of Glenthorne, but he died before the 1953 sale and did not have a son named William.

William Reginald Halliday sold the miniature prior to his mother’s January 5, 1957, decease, so he must have been given it by 1953.

[6] According to Art Prices Current (1952–1953), A129, no. 3236: “Richard Cosway, R.A.: Mr. Fuller, 3/4 face looking over left shoulder, face finished, remainder in outline, 3 ins. high. (Backer), £52 10s.” Hans E. Backer was a popular miniature dealer who sometimes bid for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This name comes up in Starr correspondence (see letter of October 11, 1955, University of Missouri-Kansas City archives, Box 22, Folder 9).