Collection Online as of March 20, 2023
Portrait of a Woman, called Mrs. Close
Horace Hone
(British, 1756–1825)
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
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.
Horace Hone
Horace Hone was a miniature painter, enameler, and engraver trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London and by his father, the Irish painter Nathaniel Hone (1718–1784). Horace worked in Dublin from 1782 until moving back to London around 1804, after the union of England and Ireland brought about the emigration of much of his clientele. He was appointed miniature painter to the Prince of Wales (the future king George IV) in 1795 and painted elite members of society, including the politician Charles James Fox and the theater doyenne Sarah Siddons. Hone was a friend of the famous diarist Joseph Farington, who wrote in 1795 of Hone’s receiving 12 guineas for painting a portrait for which the sitter’s wife was going to spend £300 on the setting. This payment suggests that in the 1790s, when his practice was thriving, Hone’s rates were similar to those charged by his successful contemporaries George Engleheart (1752–
1829) and Richard Cosway (1742–1821).3 By the 1810s, however, Hone was suffering from mental illness, his practice was in decline, and he was sufficiently financially desperate to appeal to the Royal Academy for charity on several occasions between 1814 and 1821. Hone was appointed an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1779 and exhibited at twenty-nine of its annual exhibitions between 1772 and 1822. The quality of his miniatures varies widely, but his best works are vibrantly colored and minutely worked, suggesting psychological depth and intimacy without being cloying. His work in enamel is rare but often regarded as superior to his portraits in watercolor on ivory. Indeed, the enamels less often fell victim to the redundancy and haste of execution evidenced in many of the ivories. Hone is known especially for his elegant portraits of women, who were frequently placed against a golden olive brown background and exhibit the artist’s distinctive dark eyes, rosy cheeks, and painting of individual eyelashes. The Cleveland Museum of Art possesses two portraits on ivory by Hone, each dating from the mid-1780s, when he was a young artist enjoying success in Dublin. Both works depict fashionably dressed women wearing large portrait miniatures.
1829) and Richard Cosway (1742–1821).3 By the 1810s, however, Hone was suffering from mental illness, his practice was in decline, and he was sufficiently financially desperate to appeal to the Royal Academy for charity on several occasions between 1814 and 1821. Hone was appointed an associate member of the Royal Academy in 1779 and exhibited at twenty-nine of its annual exhibitions between 1772 and 1822. The quality of his miniatures varies widely, but his best works are vibrantly colored and minutely worked, suggesting psychological depth and intimacy without being cloying. His work in enamel is rare but often regarded as superior to his portraits in watercolor on ivory. Indeed, the enamels less often fell victim to the redundancy and haste of execution evidenced in many of the ivories. Hone is known especially for his elegant portraits of women, who were frequently placed against a golden olive brown background and exhibit the artist’s distinctive dark eyes, rosy cheeks, and painting of individual eyelashes. The Cleveland Museum of Art possesses two portraits on ivory by Hone, each dating from the mid-1780s, when he was a young artist enjoying success in Dublin. Both works depict fashionably dressed women wearing large portrait miniatures.