Portrait of King Louis XIV

John Lumsden Propert (1834–1902), London, 1887–1902 [1];

George Jay Gould (1864–1923), New York, by 1923 [2];

With Duveen Brothers, London, by 1923 [3];

Harry Seal (1873–1948), Ullesthorpe House, Leicestershire, England, by 1948;

Purchased from his posthumous sale, The Choice Collection of Portrait Miniatures formed by the late Harry Seal, Esq., Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, February 16, 1949, lot 142, as A Gentleman, Temp. Louis XIV, by H. E. Backer, London, 1949 [4];

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958 [5];

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

Notes

[1] John Lumsden Propert was an English physician, art critic, and collector with a particular interest in portrait miniatures. This publication was illustrated in George Williamson, Portrait Miniatures: From the Time of Holbein 1531 to that of Sir William Ross 1860; A Handbook for Collectors (London: George Bell, 1897), 96 (facing).

[2] It is unknown when he acquired or sold the miniature, but it is illustrated on page 35 of an unpublished Duveen stock album from the collection of George Jay Gould, and may have been in his hands by 1914, when an inventory was made of the Gould estate, or after Gould’s death in 1923. Duveen Brothers, George J. Gould collection, undated, Series I.B., Box 45, The Getty Research Institute, Special Collections, Los Angeles. With thanks to Starr intern Bailey McCulloch for uncovering this reference. Gould, the son of financier Jay Gould (1836–1892), was an art collector and sportsman who acquired fashionable Old Masters, decorative arts, and portrait miniatures in the style of other Gilded Age collectors.

[3] Likewise, it is unknown when the Duveens acquired or sold the miniature, but it is illustrated on page 35 of an unpublished stock album from the collection of George Jay Gould, and may have been in their hands by 1914, when an inventory was made of the Gould estate, or after Gould’s death in 1923. Duveen Brothers, George J. Gould collection, undated, Series I.B., Box 45, The Getty Research Institute, Special Collections, Los Angeles.

[4] The lot is described in the catalogue as, “A Gentleman, Temp. Louis XIV, by Jean Petitot. Three-quarter face to the left, his coat decorated with lions’ masks, with blue cloak and long curling back hair. Oval – 1 1/8 in. high – in gold frame.” H. E. Backer seems to be the name Backer used professionally, but his full name is Hans Edmund Backer, and he was a London and Rome-based art dealer. Backer sometimes bid for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. His name comes up in Starr correspondence (See letter of October 11, 1955, University of Missouri-Kansas City archives, Box 22, Folder 9).

[5] It is possible that the Starrs acquired this miniature from Backer (see note 4) after the conclusion of the Seal sale, from which they had directly purchased several miniatures. For example, a miniature by Samuel Cooper, Portrait of Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland, F58-60/14, was also acquired from Backer from the Seal sale and was in the possession of the Starrs by 1958.