Unknown, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1805

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “Unknown, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1805,” 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. 3, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1695.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “Unknown, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1805,” catalogue entry. 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, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 3, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1695.

This portrait stylistically resembles the work of John Smart Junior (1776–1809) in its stiff representation and slightly unconvincing realism. However, it lacks his well-blended brushwork and characteristic approach to the eyes, with heavy eyeliner on the top eyelids; the present sitter has very sparse eyelashes. It is possible the work is an amateur’s copy after a portrait by Smart’s father, also named John Smart (1741–1811), but there is not enough evidence to confirm this.¹

The unknown artist applied a scratching technique throughout the sitter’s irises and around his head, which creates the appearance of silvery wisps of hair. There is also thick hatching all throughout the coat. White highlights along the collar, likely indicating residue from hair powder, provide contrast to the otherwise all-black coat, particularly emphasizing the “m” notch in the lapel. The unidentified man’s fashion and Regency-era hairstyle support a date of around 1805.

The portrait has a matte black background that differs from the sky background typically found in miniatures of this period, although Smart did utilize dark gray backgrounds in his later works. On the case back is a Prince of Wales hair curl secured with a pearl barrette and adorned with strings of gold wire and wheat. A printed trade card was found inside the miniature, inscribed “MOORE” and detailing a London auction house located on New Surrey Street.² Interestingly, another miniature in the Starr Collection includes a “Mr. MOORE” backing card, but the address listed is a few neighborhoods away.³

Notes

1. See, for example, the close resemblance of the present portrait to John Smart, Portrait of the Reverend Christopher William Baldrey Jeaffreson (1770–1846), 1810, watercolor on ivory, 3 3/8 x 2 3/4 in. (8.4 x 6.8 cm), sold at Sotheby’s, London, “Early British Drawings, Watercolours, and Portrait Miniatures,” July 9, 2009, lot 101, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/early-british-drawings-watercolours-and-portrait-miniatures-l09705/lot.101.html.

2. A printed trade card found in the case reads: “MOORE, / Appraiser, Auctioneer, and House-[illeg.] / AUCTION ROOMS, / 23, / NEW SURREY STREET, / NEAR THE BRIDGE, BLACK FRIARS ROAD. / Money advanced on Property of every Desc[illeg.] / intended for Public Sale. / N. B. Estates valued.” Research into this auction house has not revealed any further information. It is possible the card was inserted after the portrait’s sale, but no provenance for the object is currently known.

3. Two backing cards found inside an unknown artist’s miniature of James Edmonstone Buchanan (F58-60/160) read “Mr. MOORE, / GREAT RUSSELL STREET, COVENT GARDEN.” A third card in the case lists the same address but reads “Mrs. MOORE.”

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.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 204, as Unknown Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 204, p. 69, (repro.), as Unknown Man.