John Smart, Portrait of Clement Winstanley, 1780

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “John Smart, Portrait of Clement Winstanley, 1780,” 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. 4, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1556.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “John Smart, Portrait of Clement Winstanley, 1780,” 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. 4, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1556.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This miniature by John Smart gives a striking first impression. Smart’s use of pink and red throughout the portrait makes it pop from its simple gilt copper case. Even the sitter’s powdered wig takes on a pink tint. Notably, the vibrant red pigment used in the sitter’s coat is reminiscent of another portrait by John Smart from the same period, Portrait of a Man (1783), also in the Starr Collection.¹ The hue of the sitter’s coat heightens the man’s ruddy complexion, adding to the lifelike rendering achieved through Smart’s meticulous watercolor technique. Details such as the sitter’s mole to the left of his eyebrow and possible scars or scrapes below his right eye and between his left eye and brow further attest to Smart’s attention to detail.

This portrait depicts Clement Winstanley (1739–1808), a wealthy Leicester landowner born to James and Mary Winstanley and baptized on July 1, 1739.² Upon his father’s death, he inherited their family estate, Braunstone.³ Winstanley married Lady Jane Parkyns (1751–1807) in 1774 and followed in his father’s footsteps by serving as High Sheriff of Leicester.⁴ He commissioned the architect William Oldham (1737–1814) to build Braunstone Hall, where he and his wife raised their family of six children over the next fifteen years.⁵

This portrait remained within the family until Winstanley’s great-grandson sold it in 1936, erroneously listing the portrait as Colonel Clement Winstanley.⁶ The title confused the sitter with his son of the same name, who served in the army.⁷ The purpose of the portrait commission, and Winstanley’s journey from Leicester to London to have it painted, remains unclear, although it may have been related to his political affiliations. Described as a “Whig squire,” Winstanley was active in politics and sponsored his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Parkyns, in his bid for the House of Commons in 1790.⁸ As president of the “Revolution Club,” Winstanley advocated for “the independent interest of the town and county of Leicester; preserving the freedom of election,” which, in addition to Braunstone Hall, may be Winstanley’s greatest legacy.⁰⁹

Notes

1. The portrait closely resembles another Smart portrait from the same year: Joseph Sage, 1780, watercolor on ivory, 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm), sold at “The Collector,” Christie’s, London, May 22, 2019, lot 126, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6203494.

2. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975, FHL film no. 590852, digitized on Ancestrylibrary.com.

3. Rev. Francis Gastrell, “Deanery of Manchester,” Historical Notices of the Diocese of Chester (Lancashire: Chetham Society, 1849), 2:127. He also inherited the Castleton Estate but sold the property in 1773 to build Braunstone Hall.

4. They married on May 11, 1774; Parish Registers for Nottinghamshire, ref. PR399, Nottinghamshire Archives, digitized on Ancestrylibrary.com. Winstanley also served as Deputy Lieutenant of the Leicestershire Militia from 1778 to 1793; London Gazette, February 5, 1774, 1; London Gazette, April 14, 1778, 4.

5. “Our History,” Winstanley House, accessed April 18, 2024, 4 https://winstanleyhouse.co.uk/our-history. The Winstanleys were forced to sell Braunstone in 1925 as a compulsory purchase order, so that the British government could build modern housing after World War I. The hall existed as a school from 1932 to 1996, except during World War II, when it was repurposed as the divisional headquarters for the US 82nd Airborne Division.

6. See Major Richard Winstanley’s (1864–1954) sale, Objects of Vertu and Coins, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, December 17, 1936, lot 48.

7. The sale’s lot description states, “Colonel Winstanley raised the regiment known as the Prince of Wales’ Fencibles, and was a Major in this Regiment in 1796,” but this describes Clement Winstanley Junior. Winstanley Junior (1774–1855) was a captain in 1794, major in 1796, and lieutenant colonel in 1803. Henry Stooks Smith, “Winstanley, Clement,” The Military Obituary for 1853 (London: Parker, Furnivall, and Parker, 1854), 73.

8. R. G. Thorne, “Leicestershire,” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons: 1790–1820 (London: Secker and Warburg, 1986), 242.

9. James Thompson, The History of Leicester in the Eighteenth Century (Leicester: Crossley and Clarke, 1871), 177.

Probably commissioned by the sitter, Clement Winstanley (1739–1808), Braunstone, Leicestershire, 1780–1808;

By descent to his son, Clement Winstanley (1774–1855), Braunstone, Leicestershire, 1808–1855 [1];

By descent to his nephew, James Beaumont Winstanley (1832–1862) Braunstone, Leicestershire, 1855–1862 [2];

Inherited by his sister, Anna Jane Pochin (née Winstanley, 1825–1910), Braunstone, Leicestershire, 1862–1910;

By descent to her son, Major Richard Norman Winstanley (1864–1954), Braunstone, Leicestershire, 1910–1936 [3];

Purchased from his sale, Objects of Vertu and Coins, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, December 17, 1936, lot 48, as Portrait of Colonel Winstanley, by O’Neill, 1936 [4];

Unknown owner, by November 13, 1952 [5];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Fine Objects of Vertu, Watches, Enamels, Ivories, Portrait Miniatures, Etc., Sotheby’s, London, November 13, 1952, lot 156, as Colonel Clement Winstanley, 1952 [6];

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1965;

Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.

Notes

[1] Clement Winstanley Jr. did not marry or have children, so the estate passed to his brother’s son.

[2] James mysteriously disappeared in 1862, but it is believed that he drowned. He was unmarried with no children, so the estate was inherited by his sister.

[3] Richard Norman Pochin changed his last name from Pochin to Winstanley when he became the owner of Braunstone Hall and its property. He also retired from the military after he became the land proprietor.

[4] The sale was listed as the property of Major R. Winstanley. According to the lot description, “John Smart: Portrait of Colonel Winstanley, three-quarter to the right, in scarlet coat with white vest and cravat—signed with initials, and dated 1780. Colonel Winstanley raised the regiment known as the Prince of Wales’ Fencibles, and was a Major in this Regiment in 1796.” According to Art Prices Current vol. 16 (1936–1937), O’Neill bought lot 48 for 72 pounds.

[5] According to the 1952 sales catalogue, “Other Properties” sold lots 94–156.

[6] According to the lot description, “A fine miniature of Colonel Clement Winstanley, of Braunston Hall, Leicestershire, by John Smart, signed and dated 1780, head and shoulders three-quarters dexter, gaze directed at the spectator, powdered hair en queue, in white cravat and brilliant red coat, gold slide frame, fitted as a pendant, 1 5/8 in., fitted case.”

John Smart—Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Colonel Clement Winstanley.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 106, as Colonel Clement Winstanley.

John Smart: Virtuoso in Miniature, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 21, 2024–January 4, 2026, no cat., as Portrait of Clement Winstanley.

Objects of Vertu and Coins (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, December 17, 1936), 9.

Catalogue of Fine Objects of Vertu, Watches, Enamels, Ivories, Portrait Miniatures, Etc. (London: Sotheby’s, November 13, 1952), 16.

Daphne Foskett, John Smart: The Man and His Miniatures (London: Cory, Adams, and Mackay, 1964), 76.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 106, p. 39, (repro.), as Colonel Clement Winstanley.