The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2025

Portrait of a Woman

c. 1775
(British, 1741–1811)
England, 18th century
gray and red wash over graphite, heightened with white gouache on laid paper
Sheet: 5.4 x 4.7 cm (2 1/8 x 1 7/8 in.); Secondary Support: 5.3 x 4.8 cm (2 1/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.82
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Mrs. A. Dean Perry, who donated this drawing to CMA, is the granddaughter of one of the museum’s founding members, Jeptha Homer Wade II.

Description

This portrait was assigned the historically colorful but fictitious title of “Anne of Denmark” at some point after memory of its true identity had been lost. Giving illustrious titles to portraits of unknown sitters was a popular strategy adopted by dealers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, often applied to miniature portraits and, in particular, to Smart’s sketches of women. Only the sitter’s head and neck are drawn, and a low-necked dress is faintly suggested. Her head is turned to the left, and her brown hair is dressed high, with flat curls against the back of her head. A lightly drawn veil falls over the back of the hair and shoulders. The sitter’s sagging jaw line and the lines beneath her blue-green eyes
suggest that she was painted as a mature woman. The sketch is generally faded, and the background is unpainted. The finished ivory miniature for which this drawing was presumably a preparatory sketch has not yet been discovered.
The sitter’s identification has been based on a later inscription in graphite on the verso of the paper backing. When the paper backing was removed from the back of the drawing in 2011, an inscription in brown ink in the artist’s hand was discovered. The writing appears to be a fragment, created when the small rectangle containing the portrait was cut from a larger sheet. It reads, “to be set[?] in . . . / and put in a Black / Frame largest . . . / [G . . .’s?] Size.” Above this, “very dark brown hair” is written in graphite.
  • Until 1811
    John Smart (1741-1811), by inheritance to his daughter Sarah Smart
    1811-c. 1853
    Sarah Smart (1781-1853), daughter of the artist by Sarah Midgeley, gifted to Mary Smirke
    c. 1853
    Mary Smirke (d. 1853, Slough), by inheritance to her brother Sydney Smirke
    1853-77
    Sydney Smirke (1798-1877), by inheritance to his daughter Mrs. Lange
    1877-1928
    Mrs. Lange (née Smirke, d. 1928), by inheritance to her brother Edward Smirke
    1928
    Edward Smirke
    December 10, 1928
    Sale: Christie’s, London, December 10, 1928 (lot 9)
    1928
    Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene
    1929-c. 1957
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH by inheritance to his daughter Helen Perry
    c. 1957-96
    Helen Perry, (née Greene, 1911-1996), Cleveland, Oh
    1996-97
    Estate of Mrs. A. Dean Perry (Helen Perry), gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1997-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Christie, Manson & Woods. Ancient & Modern Pictures and Miniature Portraits. 1928. lot 9
    Foskett, Daphne. John Smart: the Man and His Miniatures. [London]: Cory, Adams & Mackay, 1964. pp. 70, 89
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 38, pp. 170-171
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Royal Amateur Art Society Exhibition of Miniatures, Moncorvo House, London (March 5-8, 1904).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman|url=false|author=John I Smart|year=c. 1775|access-date=25 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.82