John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1807

Chicago:

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1807,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1632.

MLA:

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee. “John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1807,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.1632.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Set in a bracelet clasp, this miniature portrait of an unknown woman may have been exchanged as a token of friendship between sisters or female companions. Posed against a gray sky streaked with yellow, the sitter wears elaborate curls and a plaited bandeau adorned with a pink rose spray, evoking the fashion and atmosphere of one of Mrs. Diana Beaumont’s grand and notorious balls.¹ Mrs. Beaumont, a regular hostess of the London season, was known for her magnificent soirées, and in 1807, when this portrait was realized, newspapers predicted her parties would “eclipse most of her rival friends” in splendor.²

Smart’s sitter appears poised for the ballroom, perhaps ready to dance a bolero, a popular Spanish-inspired dance that involved the use of castanets.³ By 1804, Spanish castanets had been promoted by dance and music publisher James Platts for social dancing, and by 1807, these instruments and the accompanying dance forms were making their way into fashionable circles.⁴ The intricate steps of these dances—and others, like those outlined in Thomas Wilson’s Analysis of Country Dancing (1811)—required precision and poise, qualities the sitter seems to possess, with her elegant posture hinting at a graceful command of the ballroom.⁵

However, beneath the polished exterior may lie a different story. While the sitter’s appearance suggests she is ready to dance and engage in the social scene, her heavily stylized look and elaborate preparations may hint at something more calculated. Much like Mrs. Beaumont, a social climber of satirical renown immortalized by Maria Edgeworth in her satire Manoeuvring (1809),⁶ Smart’s sitter may be navigating the complexities of the marriage market.⁷ Her sophisticated appearance, framed by delicate lace and embroidery, contrasts with the telltale signs of Smart’s unflinching honesty. The faint circles under her eyes and the fullness beneath her chin—common features in Smart’s portraits—suggest that her life is not all lighthearted gaiety.

Smart’s commitment to truth-telling in portraiture, even when unflattering, allows the opportunity to glimpse a woman ready not only to dazzle but also possibly to maneuver within the intricate dynamics of the Regency era. Despite her preparation, the traces of weariness in her face suggest a life lived beyond the superficialities of fashion and dance—a woman navigating not just the ball but the broader dance of social ambition.

Notes

1. Information about Mrs. Beaumont’s balls has been drawn from Paul Cooper, “Mrs. Beaumont’s Grand Balls, Part I: 1807–1810,” last modified February 6, 2024, Regency Dances, https://www.regencydances.org/paper041.php.

2. “The Lady of Colonel Beaumont will eclipse most of her rival friends in the magnificence of her balls and concerts, during the next fashionable season”; Morning Post (London), December 14, 1807.

3. Cooper, “Mrs. Beaumont’s Grand Balls, Part I.”

4. Paul Cooper, “James and Martin Platts, Dance Publishers, 1780s–1820s,” last modified April 25, 2024, Regency Dances, https://www.regencydances.org/paper033.php#james.

5. See “The Five Positions of Dancing,” in Thomas Wilson, Analysis of Country Dancing, 1811, 6 11/16 x 5 in. (17 x 12 cm), British Library, London, https://imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/149375/.

6. Maria Edgeworth, Manoeuvring, 17th ed. (1809; Gloucester, UK: Dodo Press, 2010). The story features a widow named Mrs. Beaumont, who may have been based loosely on Mrs. Diana Beaumont. The fictional Beaumont attempts to secure the most advantageous marriages for her children.

7. In the eighteenth century, many young girls and unmarried women typically wore their hair down; however, the marital status of this woman is uncertain, as she does not appear to be the picture of youth. For a discussion on the link between long hair, sensuality, and sexual availability, see Anne Hollander, Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 38.

Unknown owner, by July 24, 1947 [1];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Oriental Ivories, Etc., Sotheby’s, London, July 24, 1947, lot 107, as A Lady, by H. Harris, 1947 [2];

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.

Notes

[1] According to the 1947 sales catalogue, lots 88–108 belonged to “Other Properties.”

[2] According to Art Prices Current (1946–47), “H. Harris” bought lot 107 for £40. See also https://archive.org/details/orientalivorieso00soth/page/18/mode/2up.

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.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 140, 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 a Woman.

Catalogue of Oriental Ivories, Etc. (London: Sotheby’s, July 24, 1947), 11, as A Well-Painted Miniature of a Lady.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 140, p. 49, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.