Thomas Heaphy, Portrait of a Man, 1805

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “Thomas Heaphy, Portrait of a Man, 1805,” 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. 3, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1422.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “Thomas Heaphy, Portrait of a Man, 1805,” 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. 3, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1422.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Formerly attributed to Thomas Hargreaves (1774–1847), likely because of the “TH” monogram, this portrait bears none of the hallmarks of that artist’s painterly style.¹ By contrast, the tightly stippled background, warm palette, and naturalistic approach point to Thomas Heaphy. The recent discovery of an interior backing card inscribed by Heaphy confirms the attribution. Heaphy’s Scottish patrons, including the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch,² drew him to Edinburgh, where he completed this miniature in 1805.³

Preeminent dandy Beau Brummel popularized the conservative Regency fashion adopted by the sitter in this portrait, whose auburn curls sweep upward, with individual strands delineated by careful brushstrokes.⁴ This hairstyle, called the “Brutus” or “frightened owl,” became fashionable after the French Revolution. Young men took inspiration from ancient Rome, cutting their hair short and brushing it forward.⁵

The young man’s neutral wardrobe includes a dark, tailored wool coat and cravat tied “à la Byron,” named after George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron), another celebrated man of fashion.⁶ Heaphy skillfully recreates the various fabric textures of the sitter’s attire, despite a limited palette, and emphasizes their fine quality. The white cravat, shirt, and waistcoat appear as distinct elements set against a tawny background, and raised white dots of paint indicate the rolled and whipped hem of the shirt’s bosom ruffle. The young man’s on-trend attire and hairstyle speak to his elevated social status, something he perhaps wanted to communicate and commemorate through this deftly painted miniature.⁷

Notes

1. Hargreaves’s style typically consists of smooth brushwork, and his sitters often appear in Van Dyck dress. These qualities reveal his artistic training with Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830); see Daphne Foskett, Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide (Woodbridge: Antique Collectors Club, 1987), 557.

2. Paul Boucher et al., A Passion for Opera: The Duchess and the Georgian Stage, exh. cat. (Northamptonshire: Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust, 2019), 23. It is unclear what year the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch became his patrons, although his portrait of the duchess dates to 1805 (Collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch). There are multiple engravings after Heaphy’s watercolor painting of the duchess; see Harriet Katherine, Duchess of Buccleuch, ca. 1800–1887, engraving, 54 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. (138.4 x 105.4 cm), British Museum, London, 1875,0313.80, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1875-0313-80.

3. Neil Campbell, Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2006), 2:892; Thomas Heaphy, Colonel Matthew Stewart, d. 1851. Soldier; Son of Professor Dugald Stewart, pencil and watercolor on paper, 10 x 8 in. (25.5 x 20.3 cm), Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, PG 2504, https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3922; per inscription on the backing card, “Painted by T Heaphy . . . done in Edinburgh.” Other notable sitters Heaphy painted in Scotland include Scottish Colonel Matthew Stewart. Heaphy also completed a pencil and watercolor drawing on paper in 1802 of Stewart’s stepmother, the songstress Helen D’Arcy Cranstoun, or Mrs. Dugald Stewart (1765–1838), located at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, PG 2503. Mrs. Dugald Stewart was the sister of Jane Anne Cranstoun, later Countess Purgstall, and a close friend of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). Scott was also the pupil of Colonel Matthew Stewart’s father, the famous philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753–1828). Heaphy later encountered Scott on his trip to Italy in 1831. For more information, see Basil Hall, “Schloss Hainfield; or, a Winter in Lower Styria,” The Quarterly Review 57 (1836): 115.

4. Ian Kelly, Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style (New York: Free Press, 2006), 1, 104–6. George “Beau” Brummell (1778–1840) was still a teenager when he was the best man at the royal wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1795. Brummell established a style of dress that included tailored garments, dark coats, full-length trousers, and perfectly tied cravats.

5. Alice Morse Earle, Two Centuries of Costume in America (New York: Macmillan, 1903), 2:751–53; Bill Severn, The Long and Short of It: Five Thousand Years of Fun and Fury Over Hair (New York: David McKay Company, 1971), 87–88. Infrequent washing and the use of hair wax also helped to create volume.

6. Anne Hollander, “The Modernization of Fashion,” Design Quarterly, no. 154 (Winter 1992): 31; Kelly, Beau Brummell, 98–99; Blanche Payne, History of Costume: From the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 452. Lord Byron (1788–1824) was an English poet and trendsetter. He was a close friend to fellow dandy Beau Brummell. The sitter’s neckcloth in the Nelson-Atkins portrait miniature resembles a “cravate à la Byron,” a cravat carefully tied in a bow. An 1828 guide described the style as “fastened in a large bow, or rosette, at least six inches in length and four in circumference” and worn in the summer and during long journeys; see H. Le Blanc, The Art of Tying the Cravat (London: Effingham Wilson, Ingrey, and Madeley, 1828), 41–42.

7. Alison Toplis, The Clothing Trade in Provincial England, 1800–1850 (London: Routledge, 2015), 138; William Whitley, Thomas Heaphy (1775-1835): First President of the Society of British Artists (London: The Royal Society of British Artists’ Art Club Publications, 1933), 19; George Williamson, George Engleheart, 1750–1829, Miniature Painter to George III (London: George Bell and Sons, 1902), 32, 39. In 1811, Heaphy charged between ten and fifty guineas for miniatures, a range substantiated by his diverse clientele. Miniaturist George Engleheart charged his sitters between twelve and fifteen guineas in 1803. The sitter for the Nelson-Atkins portrait likely paid around ten guineas for this miniature, befitting his standing as a gentleman. In comparison, domestic servants in England usually earned between ten and twenty guineas per year, excluding room and board.

Probably Lewis Charles Wallach (1871–1964), The Grange, Northington, Hampshire, by May 2, 1955 [1];

Purchased from his sale, Catalogue of Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, May 2, 1955, lot 61, as by Thomas Hargreaves, A Miniature of a Young Man, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1955–1958 [2];

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

Notes

[1] “The principal owners of The Grange, 1664–present [. . .] Lewis Charles Wallach, born 1871, purchased property 1934, died 1964;” Christopher Currie in “Archaeological Recording at The Grange, Northington, Hampshire” (Hampshire, CKC Archaeology, 2001), 36. “Wallach, Eileen [. . .] The Grange, Northington, Alresford, Hampshire, Wife of Lewis Charles Wallach. 12 September, 1944 [Died],” quoted from “Notices Under the Trustee Act, 1925 S. 27,” The London Gazette, May 17, 1949, p. 2457. “The house was owned by Lewis Wallach, who used it to display his collection of antiques and paintings;” Jane Geddes, “The Grange, Northington,” Architectural History 26 (1983): 35. “Wallach had bought The Grange [. . .] specifically to house his pictures. During the Second World War, his collection was sent, inexplicably, to Southampton for safe keeping. All but a few of the paintings were destroyed in an air raid;” Kenneth Powell in “Parthenon-style The Grange’s façade,” The Telegraph (July 4, 1998). “WALLACH.—On August 21, Mr. Lewis Charles Wallach, governing director of Sterns, Ltd., Royal London House, Finsbury Square, London E.C.2. Mr. Wallach, who was in his ninety-fourth year, was also president of Sterns Inc., New York, and technical advisor to Sternol, Ltd., London. Mr. Wallach was a pioneer of safety appliances for protection of workmen in factories and mines and of introduction of medicinal liquid paraffin for internal use;” listed in an obituary: “Deaths,” The Chemist and Druggist: For Retailer, Wholesaler and Manufacturer (August 29, 1964): 190.

[2] The annotated catalogue for this sale is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. Lot 61 is annotated in pen with a dash and a circled lot number. “£11” is written in pencil to the left of the lot. Leggatt bought the miniature for £11. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Catalogue of Fine Portrait Miniatures (London: Sotheby’s, May 2, 1955), 11, as by Thomas Hargreaves, A Miniature of a Young Man.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 264, as by Thomas Hargraeves, Portrait of a Young Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 191, p. 65, (repro.), as by Thomas Hargreaves, Unknown Man.