The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 21, 2024

Portrait of a Man Holding a Glass

Portrait of a Man Holding a Glass

c. 1780s
(British, c. 1760–1803)
England, late 18th century
watercolor on ivory
Image: 12.7 x 10.1 cm (5 x 4 in.); Framed: 18.4 x 15.8 cm (7 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2010.5
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

While some highly successful artists were able to support themselves by working only in miniature, it was more common for them to work in a variety of media like Joseph Daniel who was a miniature painter, engraver, and jeweler who also executed pictures in oil, crayon, and hairwork.

Description

Joseph Daniel was the son Nochaniah Daniel of Bridgewater, Somerset, and among the first known Jewish artists of South West England. Joseph’s work has often been confused with that of his brother Abraham, with whom he competed for patronage. Neither commonly used his forename in signature nor in advertisement, possibly with a view to capitalize on the other’s clientele. Little is known about the brothers’ education apart from the fact that they were trained by their mother. Joseph seldom exhibited his miniatures in public. Only in recent years has there been an increased confidence in distinguishing his works from those of Abraham, resulting from the discovery of a handful of miniatures signed with first initials. The primary distinction between their styles is usually cited as Joseph’s greater attention to detail and
his use of gray tones in shading.
This outstanding miniature dating from the 1780s is unsigned, as was typical of Daniel’s practice. The sitter is conventionally dressed, wearing a powdered wig and a cream-colored cravat and waistcoat under a dark brown frock coat against which the delicacy of the translucent frilled cuffs is especially pronounced. There is evidence on the painted surface that Daniel adjusted the position of the index finger on the man’s left hand as well as the rightmost curls of his wig. The background is a mottled rusty brown, spot lit to pale brown in the center. The pallor of the sitter’s face, framed by gray hair and a blanched background, reinforces the intensity of his dark eyes, which confront the viewer directly. The face is sensitively described with broad gray shadows.
Daniel’s attention to detail is evident in the reflection of the window in the curved glass of the goblet. The goblet, while acting as a central element in the picture, is not a refined object; instead, it is a heavy, plain vessel significant for its contents: water from Bath’s natural hot springs. This type of virtuoso portrait may have been displayed in the artist’s studio to attract clients and refers to the spa culture of Bath, a critical site for social maneuvering in eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century England.
  • 1972
    The Merchiston Collection, purchased by Mrs. Eleanor Hamilton (née Strachan, b. 1933, Scotland) from an unknown source
    November 25, 2009
    Sale: "The Merchiston Collection Sale", Bonhams, Knightsbridge, November 25, 2009, lot 25
    2009-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Foskett, Daphne. Collecting Miniatures. Woodbridge, Eng: Antique Collectors' Club, 1979. Reproduced: p. 254, pl. 62
    Foskett, Daphne. Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1987. Mentioned: p. 254, Reproduced: pl. 62
    Legouix, Susan, and Trevor Fawcett. Pickpocketing the Rich: Portrait Painting in Bath, 1720-1800. Bath: Holburne Museum of Art, 2002. Mentioned: cat. no. 67, Reproduced p. 95
    Lloyd, Stephen. Portrait Miniatures from the Merchiston Collection. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2005. Mentioned: cat. no. 25, p. 34-35, 63, Reproduced: pl. 10
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p. 40, 86, Reproduced: p. 74
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 27, pp. 133-137
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Main European Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 22, 2010 - January 17, 2011).
    Portrait Miniatures from the Merchiston Collection, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, (23 September–11 December 2005).
    Pickpocketing the Rich: Portrait Painting in Bath 1720-1800, The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, (25 June-15 September 2002).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man Holding a Glass|url=false|author=Joseph Daniel|year=c. 1780s|access-date=21 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.5