George Engleheart, Portrait of Miss T. Bashingfeld, ca. 1785

Chicago:

Blythe Sobol, “George Engleheart, Portrait of Miss T. Bashingfeld, ca. 1785,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 2, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1374.

MLA:

Sobol, Blythe. “George Engleheart, Portrait of Miss T. Bashingfeld, ca. 1785,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 2, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1374.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This charming portrait by George Engleheart features a blushing young lady with curls artfully arranged around her face. Accenting the crown of her head is a blue bow, which matches the ribbon adorning her diaphanous lace-trimmed bodice, a variant of the French chemise-style gown popularized by Queen Marie Antoinette of France.¹ The sky background and the sitter’s wide-set eyes and rosy pout are all hallmarks of Engleheart’s midcareer work, when he began to build a robust clientele of patrons from the upper classes. His careful but rapid draftsmanship is particularly evident in the swirling tendrils of hair. Blue shadowing under the eyes is characteristic of his technique and lends a becoming pallor to the sitter’s complexion.

Aside from the pert beauty of its subject, this miniature stands out for its sumptuous case, made in the fausse montre style in a teasing approximation of a pragmatic pocket watch. Gold bezels accent alternating borders of brilliant blue enamel and lustrous pearls, echoing those encircling the neck of the sitter. Blue enamel accents on miniature cases and jewelry came into vogue in London beginning in 1775.² The deep blue hue, first adopted by royalty, references the wearer’s “blue blood,” or royal lineage—and, by association, that of the subject depicted within.³ A plethora of such cases are convincingly rendered with cheaper imitations such as Bristol glass and embossed copper foil, but this case utilizes the finest materials and craftsmanship, with engine-turned enamel laid on gold engraved with a zigzag design on the front. The back of the case is equally elaborate, with an engraved floral pattern peeking through the translucent blue enamel. Centered within an oval pearl surround, an enameled “B,” formed with tiny clear cut stones, sits atop a reserve of braided hair, seemingly alluding to the sitter’s surname, “Bashingfeld.” But like the case itself, this initial may not be what it seems.

This miniature of unknown provenance has been called Portrait of Miss T. Bashingfeld since before John W. and Martha Jane Phillips Starr acquired it, but rather than providing a hint as to the sitter’s identity, this title has thus far stymied any attempts to recover it.⁴ The surname “Bashingfeld” is enigmatically absent from genealogical records.⁵ The closest approximation, Bassingfield, is the name of a hamlet in Nottinghamshire, of sufficient antiquity to be featured in the Domesday Book, the record of William the Conquerer’s 1086 survey of England and Wales.⁶

The name could be fictive, perhaps invented by an enterprising dealer at the turn of the twentieth century who knew that an identification would increase the portrait’s value on the open market; portraits of beautiful young ladies, especially ensconced in such ornate frames, were already in high demand among collectors of that era. Indeed, the case, and even the glittering “B,” were likely later additions.⁷ Backed in gold, the initialed enamel ornament most likely derived from a piece of jewelry, perhaps an earring, pendant, or stickpin. Modern-day collections of miniatures are rife with such fusions of miniatures and cases from different sources and eras, calculated to appeal to robber baron collectors seeking aristocratic portraits to augment their own unremarkable origins. Like the ornate casework of a later date, designed to impress, the name “Bashingfeld” may also be a composite, or a play on words, perhaps referencing the bashful nature of a respectable young lady. Only she knows whether her cheeks are flushed in earnest or with rouge.

Notes

1. After being disseminated through Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s (French, 1755–1842) notorious 1783 portrait of the French queen, La reine en gaulle (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), the informal and gauzy white gown that controversially resembled a women’s undergarment (called a gaulle and also a chemise à la reine, or blouse of the queen), made its way to England, where it was popularized by the actress Mary [Perdita] Robinson and renamed the “Perdita chemise.” Paula Byrne, Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson (New York: Random House, 2004), 190. On the scandal of the chemise à la reine, see Mary Sheriff, The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 143–79; and Caroline Weber, Queen of Fashion: What Marie-Antoinette Wore to the Revolution (New York: Henry Holt, 2006), 160–63.

2. The London enameller known as Jusen began the fashion for blue enamel, with a technique prized for its translucency. Gina Redington Dawes and Olivia Collings, Georgian Jewellery 1714–1830 (New York: ACC Art Books, 2007), 120.

3. Dawes and Collings, Georgian Jewellery, 120.

4. The Starrs’ purchase receipts have not been located, and museum staff have not been able to find this miniature in any auction or dealer records. They likely purchased it sometime between the late 1940s and 1958, the year they donated it to the Nelson-Atkins.

5. Possible variations found in England include Basingfield, Bushingfeld, Bechingfeld, Bessingfield, and Bassingfield, but these records date to the later nineteenth century. I would like to thank Ann Miller, Nelson-Atkins volunteer, for her assistance with genealogical and bibliographic research for this miniature.

6. Anna Powell-Smith, J. J. N. Palmer, et al., “Nottingham, page 15,” Open Domesday, accessed February 2, 2021, https://opendomesday.org/book/nottinghamshire/15.

7. This possibility was suggested by conservator Carol Aiken upon opening the case for treatment. In an original presentation, the stones forming a “B” would have been mounted directly on the hair. Carol Aiken, conversations with the author, March 18–22, 2018, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Both Aiken and Elle Shushan advised on the likely later date of the case. Elle Shushan, conversations with Aimee Marcereau DeGalan and Katelyn Crawford, curators at the Nelson-Atkins, March 27–31, 2017, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 72, as Miss T. Bashingfeld.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 72, p. 27, (repro.), as Miss T. Bashingfeld.