The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Portrait of a Man

Portrait of a Man

c. 1800
(British, 1752–1829)
England, 18th century
watercolor on ivory, in a later gold, enamel, and diamond frame
Framed: 8.7 x 7.4 cm (3 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 7.7 x 6.2 cm (3 1/16 x 2 7/16 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1941.556
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Braided brown hair is glazed on the back of this miniature.

Description

This work dates to around 1800, when George Engleheart was in the mature stage of his career. The sitter wears a blue coat with brass buttons over a yellow waistcoat and high white collar with ruffles. The initials W.A. on the back of the case probably identify the sitter, but Engleheart’s fee book records only his sitter’s surname in most instances, so it is impossible to determine if this portrait is among those numerous sitters with an A surname. The meticulous construction of the elaborate case and the nature of its components—gold, enamel, and diamonds—indicates that it is probably original.
The gold initials on the bordered, blue enamel back are encircled with braided brown hair. The twenty-four brilliant-cut diamonds are genuine, though paste diamonds were becoming more widely available during this period. When this work entered Cleveland’s collection in the 1940s, the cost of reproducing the frame was noted in curatorial records to be 20,000 to 25,000 francs, according to the dealer Leo Schidlof. It is the only miniature from the Greene collection whose setting was evaluated in such a way.
  • Before 1930
    Benjamin Nathan, London, England
    By 1930
    (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France)
    1930-1941
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1941-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures; The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951. Mentioned: p. 27, no. 12; reproduced: pl. XVIII archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. p. 286
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p.86
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 62, pp. 242-243
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202) The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5, 2009 - April 6, 2009).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
    Four Centuries of Miniature Painting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (January 18-March 19, 1950).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man|url=false|author=George Engleheart|year=c. 1800|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.556