The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Portrait of a Man

Portrait of a Man

1789
(British, 1741–1811)
England, 18th century
watercolor on ivory in a gold and seed pearl frame
Framed: 7.1 x 5.5 cm (2 13/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 6.2 x 4.5 cm (2 7/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1943.651
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This miniature is housed in its original gold frame set with real half pearls.

Description

This unknown sitter has remarkably light blue eyes, a ruddy complexion, and powdered hair worn en queue. He wears a brown coat with a white cravat and waistcoat. The background is muddy brown. The miniature is housed in its original gold frame, which is set with genuine half pearls. This man was painted in 1789 when John Smart was working in Madras, India. He is probably a Madras civil servant or merchant.
This work is typical of Smart’s portraits of nonmilitary gentlemen living in India. Two other miniatures also painted by Smart in India in 1789 show striking similarities: Portrait of the Hon. Basil Cochrane and Portrait of Benjamin Torin. Like the CMA sitter, both of these gentlemen are dressed in dark coats with brass buttons, nearly identical cravats, and waistcoats. They wear their hair en queue, and a dusting of powder is visible on their wide coat collars. In each portrait the sheen of the skin, particularly on the nose, cheeks, and temples, suggests perspiration, a quality thrown into greater relief by the dull brown backgrounds. Although all three men wear a pleasant facial expression and are styled nearly identically, their facial features are highly distinctive and bear testimony to Smart’s capacity to capture a sitter’s likeness even when his production was in many ways systematized.
  • Before 1924
    Robert Wortmann (1869-1928), Vienna, Austria
    -1929
    (Leo Schidlof, Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene).
    1929-1943
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1943-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • International Exhibition of Miniatures, Albertina, Vienna, (1924). cat. no. 833
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures: The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951. Reproduced: p. 30, no. 35, pl. X archive.org
    Comstock, Helen. "The Edward B. Greene Collection on Miniatures." The Connoisseur 128 (October 1951): 138-140. Mentioned: p. 140
    Smart, John, and Rose E. Taggart. John Smart - Miniaturist, 1741/42-1811: Starr Collection of Consecutively Dated Miniatures and Special Loan Exhibition : William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, Decmeber 9, 1965 to January 2, 1966. Kansas City, Mo: The Gallery, 1966. Mentioned: cat. no. 26
    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.
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p.82
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 31-, pp. 148149
  • 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).
    John Smart - Miniaturist. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (December 9-31, 1965).
    International Exhibition of Miniatures, Albertina, Vienna, (1924).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man|url=false|author=John I Smart|year=1789|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.651