The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Portrait of a Woman, called Mrs. Close

1786

Horace Hone

(British, 1756–1825)
England, 18th century
watercolor on ivory in an ormolu frame
Framed: 8.9 x 7.5 cm (3 1/2 x 2 15/16 in.); Sight: 6.5 x 5.2 cm (2 9/16 x 2 1/16 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1943.644
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist, Horace Hone, signed the miniature in the lower right with the monogram HH.

Description

The sitter of this portrait has been called “Mrs. Close” at least from 1929, when Edward Greene purchased the miniature from the dealer Leo Schidlof. The reason for this identification is, however, unknown, as there is no inscribed reference to Mrs. Close on the miniature or any of its supporting materials. Like so many of Horace Hone’s female sitters, her gown and hair are ornamented with strands of pearls, and she is set against an olive green background. Her brown, curly hair falls over her shoulders, dressed high with a pearl ornament on the right side. She has large, dark brown eyes and rosy cheeks and wears a plum-colored dress with a lace fichu around the neckline. The sitter also dons a miniature with the portrait turned toward her chest, exposing the back, which is ornamented with plaited hair. It is noteworthy that the miniature appears this way; even if it had been facing forward, its portrait would not have been legible to the viewer. The decision to place the back foremost underscores the highly private nature of the miniature portrait and its significance for the sitter, who was perhaps accustomed to wearing her miniature with the portrait turned toward her body. This manner of wearing miniatures was adopted by both men and women and was a popular vignette in sentimental novels and poems of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  • By 1929
    (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene).
    1929-1943
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1943-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures: The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951. Reproduced: p. 28, no. 19, pl. XIX 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. 292
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p.84
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 52, pp. 212-214
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman, called Mrs. Close|url=false|author=Horace Hone|year=1786|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.644