John Smart, Portrait of Mrs. Brummell, Probably Mary Brummell, 1785

Chicago:

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “John Smart, Portrait of Mrs. Brummell, Probably Mary Brummell, 1785,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1570.

MLA:

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee. “John Smart, Portrait of Mrs. Brummell, Probably Mary Brummell, 1785,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.1570.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This miniature, initialed and dated “J.S. 1785” by the artist, entered the Nelson-Atkins collection as Miss Kendall in 1965, as part of the Starr family foundation gift.¹ Six years later, with the publication of the collection handbook in 1971, it was demoted to “an Unknown Lady.”² However, as part of the research undertaken for this catalogue, an inscription was discovered on the interior backing card, written in John Smart’s hand, that identifies the sitter as “Mrs. Brummell.”³ This marks the second known portrait of Mrs. Brummell by Smart; the first is a watercolor on ivory completed five years earlier (Fig. 1). Despite the five-year gap, the sitter’s hair and facial features appear remarkably unchanged, though her attire in the Nelson-Atkins miniature reflects more updated fashion. This continuity raises intriguing questions about Smart’s practice of dating and reusing preparatory sketches in his work.

John Smart was known to create and retain preparatory sketches for his miniatures on ivory, which he often used as the basis for later works. It is plausible that an untraced preparatory drawing served as the foundation for both the 1780 and 1785 portraits of Mrs. Brummell. In the earlier miniature, Sotheby’s auction house described Mrs. Brummell as wearing “an apple-green silk dress with pale blue sleeves, grey background,” with her “brown hair entwined with pearls, piled on her head with loose curls falling to her shoulder.”⁴ In the Nelson-Atkins version—which is a finished sketch, judging by Smart’s inscription and date—her expression, face, and hair remain nearly identical, though her dress is changed to a pale yellow-and-white gown set against a sky background. The similarities between the two suggest that Smart may have refined the details of dress and background while reusing the same preparatory sketch.

While Smart identified the sitter only as “Mrs. Brummell,” there is compelling evidence to suggest that she may be Mary Brummell, née Richardson (1754–1793), a celebrated beauty and daughter of the Keeper of the Lottery Office.⁵ In 1772, she married William Brummell, private secretary to Prime Minister Lord North, and the couple had three children, including George “Beau” Brummell, a pivotal figure in Regency fashion.⁶ A comparison between this miniature and a portrait of Mary Brummell by Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735–1811) from 1772, likely occasioned by her marriage, reveals striking similarities, including wide-set blue eyes, a widow’s peak, arched eyebrows, an elongated nose, and a thin upper lip, despite the difference in age (Fig. 2).

Adding a layer of complexity to this portrait is the mourning scene found on the verso, which features a woman standing beside a broken column—symbolizing a life cut short—and a weeping willow, a common symbol of grief, rebirth, and eternal life. These motifs likely indicate that the miniature was intended as a memorial portrait, though it remains unclear how they connect to the sitter. It may imply that the sitter was a different Mrs. Brummell who passed away prematurely around the time the miniature was realized, or it is possible that the miniature was reframed after the death of Mary Richardson Brummell in 1793 at the age of thirty-nine.

Whether this miniature depicts Mary Brummell or another Mrs. Brummell, the mourning scene on the verso imbues it with a sense of loss and remembrance. The sitter’s confident gaze, juxtaposed with the somber imagery on the reverse, reflects the delicate balance between personal identity and the emotions tied to memorialization. The work captures both the vibrant presence of the sitter and the poignant sense of a life touched by tragedy, while revealing insight about Smart’s process.

Notes

1. It is uncertain where the name Kendall came from; however, in an inventory sheet from the Starr family, the portrait is identified as #215, Miss Kendall, and dated 1784. Scans in NAMA curatorial files.

2. The miniature was also reproduced in a Nelson-Atkins publication, “Exhibitions: Portrait Miniatures by John Smart,” Gallery Events (December 1965). The exhibition was held in the Burnap Ceramics Room, December 10–January 2, 1965.

3. The interior inscription reads “Mrs. Brommell”; however, Smart’s other portrait is clearly entitled “Brummell,” and it is the same sitter.

4. Sotheby’s, London, “The Property of Dyson Perrins, Esq.,” May 14, 1959, lot 68.

5. Philip Carter, “Brummell, George Bryan [known as Beau Brummell] (1778–1840),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, January 6, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/3771.

6. Carter, “Brummell, George Bryan [known as Beau Brummell].”

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

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

John Smart, Portrait of Mrs. Brummell, 1780, watercolor on ivory, 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm) high, listed for sale in Sotheby’s, London, “The Property of Dyson Perrins, Esq.,” May 14, 1959, lot 68.

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

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 114, as Unknown Lady.

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 Mrs. Brummell, Probably Mary Brummell.

“Exhibitions: Portrait Miniatures by John Smart,” Gallery Events (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) (December 1965): (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 114, p. 41, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.