John Smart, Portrait of a Man, 1783

Chicago:

Blythe Sobol, “John Smart, Portrait of a Man, 1783,” 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. 4, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1566.

MLA:

Sobol, Blythe. “John Smart, Portrait of a Man, 1783,” 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. 4, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1566.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

At first glance, this portrait of a man seems quite typical for Smart’s miniatures of the 1780s, with its characteristically straightforward depiction. The sitter appears to be middle-aged, dressed simply in a red coat with silver or pewter buttons and a crisp white cravat, shirt, and vest. His ruddy complexion, laid down in vibrant, transparent layers of red, yellow, and brown pigment, suggests a good amount of time spent outdoors—or perhaps a robust appreciation for drink. He may be a prosperous gentleman farmer, merchant, or off-duty naval officer. He wears his hair unpowdered for this formal portrait, suggesting that he may be a man of means but nevertheless without pretensions to fashionable London society.

Set before the stippled, cool brown background frequently utilized by Smart in the 1780s and late 1770s, the sitter dominates the picture plane, appearing quite severe in the rather thin, set line of his mouth. Above all, his olive-green eyes direct a searing gaze at the viewer. Their striking appearance is rendered more so by Smart’s manner of scratching, sgraffito style, around the outline of the eyelids and within the sclera.¹ White dots at the upper center of the pupil, just grazing the bottom of the eyelid, stand out sharply when the miniature is examined with raking light, adding to the uncanny appearance of his intense stare.²

Notes

1. We are grateful to Bernd Pappe, who shared his observations on the miniature’s condition and technique during a visit to the Nelson-Atkins, July 24–26, 2023. Notes in NAMA curatorial files.

2. The unusual appearance of this pigment, which appears to have transferred to the glass, was observed during conservation surveys with conservator Carol Aiken in 2018. Notes in NAMA curatorial files.

Unknown owner, by 1951 [1];

Objects of Art and Vertu, Snuffboxes, Miniatures, Watches, and Fans, Christie’s, London, December 7, 1951, lot 17 [2];

John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958–1965;

Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.

Notes

[1] The unknown owner was not identified in the sale, listed in the catalogue only as “different properties” comprising lots 1–18.

[2] The sale catalogue describes it as “Portrait of a gentleman–by John Smart, signed with initials and the date 1783–three-quarter face to the left, wearing red coat and white stock–oval–1 1/2 in. high.” This catalogue is located at University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library and was annotated, probably by the Starrs, by circling the lot number. This lot is not documented in Art Prices Current, a record of sale prices and buyers.

John Smart—Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Gentleman.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 112, as Unknown Man.

John Smart: Virtuoso in Miniature, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 21, 2024–January 4, 2026, no cat., as Portrait of a Man.

Objects of Art and Vertu, Snuffboxes, Miniatures, Watches, and Fans (London: Christie’s, December 7, 1951), 5.

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), 136, 265, (repro.), as Portrait of a Man and formerly as F58-60/134.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 112, p. 41, (repro.).

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), 149, (repro.), as Portrait of a Man and formerly as F58-60/134.