John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1772

Chicago:

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1772,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1532.

MLA:

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee. “John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1772,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.1532.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This exceptionally small portrait miniature of an unknown woman, set into a ring, is one of John Smart’s most intricately scaled works. In less than one square inch, Smart masterfully captures the subject’s likeness with remarkable precision. The woman is shown in three-quarters view against a subtle gray background, her body slightly turned to the right, gazing directly at the viewer with large gray eyes framed by kohl-darkened brows. She is dressed in a low-cut blue gown worn over a lace-edged white chemise. She wears a pearl choker tied at the nape of her neck with a white satin bow. Her upswept brown hair, with a single ringlet falling just below her ear, reflects a style characteristic of the early 1770s. The ring is accompanied by a period red leather box that retains its original silk lining; however, the box itself is not original to this particular object.

Creating portrait miniatures on such a minute scale posed significant challenges. Smart likely utilized a technique in which he tapped his brush, loaded with gummed watercolor paint, onto the ivory surface, producing a distinctive burst-bubble pattern on the sitter’s face, visible under raking light.¹ This technical nuance highlights Smart’s meticulous attention to detail, even on such a small ivory surface.

Portrait miniatures set into rings were often created for memorial or mourning purposes, typically featuring hair reserves or inscriptions on the reverse to indicate their commemorative function. This ring, however, lacks such markers, suggesting that it may not have been intended as a mourning piece. Its small scale indicates that it was likely designed for a child, an intimate token meant to be worn and cherished. As Marcia Pointon has explored in her research, jewelry such as this carried significant social meaning within the economy of exchange in eighteenth-century England. Pointon notes, “Jewelry, bequeathed as heirloom or as gift, carries narratives of continuity and signifies the transvaluation of the material into abstract qualities such as history or spirituality.”² These miniature portraits, often exchanged as sentimental gifts, were imbued with personal narratives and symbolic weight.

This miniature ring, while diminutive in size, speaks to the broader cultural and emotional significance of such objects in Georgian society. Whether worn as a personal memento or given as a cherished gift, it reflects the intricate interplay between personal relationships, social status, and the art of portraiture during this period.

Notes

1. As noted by objects conservator Carol Aiken on October 29, 2018. Notes in NAMA curatorial files.

2. Marcia Pointon, “‘Surrounded with Brilliants’: Miniature Portraits in Eighteenth-Century England,” Art Bulletin 83, no. 1 (March 2001): 55.

Possibly Alfred Ebsworth Hill (1862–1940), London and Hertfordshire, by April 21, 1940 [1];

Possibly purchased from his posthumous sale, Valuable Jewels, Miniatures, Objects of Vertu, Silhouettes, Etc., Sotheby’s, London, May 13, 1942, lot 78, as A Girl, by James Lifetree (ca. 1861–1943), London, 1942 [2];

Unknown man, by May 1, 1958 [3];

Purchased at the unknown man’s sale, Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, May 1, 1958, lot 54, as A Lady, by Weaver [4];

Edward Grosvenor Paine (1911–1989), New Orleans, probably by ca. 1975;

Purchased from Paine by Mr. Donald J. (1927–2013) and Mrs. Victoria (1924–2017) Quinn, Kansas City, MO, by ca. 1975–2017;

By descent to their son, Donald J. Quinn II (b. 1955), Kansas City, MO, 2017–2018;

Purchased from Quinn by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.

Notes

[1] Alfred Ebsworth Hill was a violin maker and one of the sons of William Ebsworth Hill, who established W. E. Hill and Sons, Violin and Bow Makers, in 1880. The company is still in business as of 2025. Hill’s property was sold by order of his executors in three sales at Sotheby’s on July 12, 1940, May 7, 1942, and May 13, 1942. The miniature is not reproduced in his sales catalogue so it cannot be definitively confirmed that he owned this object.

[2] According to the lot description, “A Gold Tie Ring, the oval bezel set with a miniature of a girl, by John Smart, signed and dated 1772, she is depicted head and shoulders three-quarters sinister, gaze directed at spectator, wearing a pearl necklet and a pale blue dress, 2 cm.; fitted case.” According to Art Prices Current (1941–42), Lifetree bought lot 54 for £21.

Mr. James Lifetree, Esq. donated several portrait miniatures to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in the 1920s and 1930s. Lifetree co-owned a business, Gilt and Fancy Moulding Manufacturers, at 34, 36 and 38, Bannerstreet, London, with a factory in Wusterhausen, Germany. The partnership was dissolved on March 16, 1906. London Gazette, January 1, 1907, 69, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27982/page/69/data.pdf. He opened his own moulding manufactory at 44, 45, and 46 Eagle St, London. See Post Office London Directory Trades Directory, 1910, p. 1597, https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/api/collection/p16445coll4/id/24510/download.

[3] Lots 48–54 are listed as “The Property of a Gentleman.”

[4] According to the lot description, “A Fine Miniature of a Lady by John Smart, signed with initials and dated 1772, forming the bezel of a gold ring, almost full face, with high-piled brown hair, wearing a blue dress and pearl necklace, 7/8 in., fitted case.”

An 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 54 is annotated in pencil with “65.” According to the attached price list, Weaver bought lot 54 for £65.

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 a Woman.

Catalogue of Valuable Jewels, Miniatures, Objects of Vertu, Silhouettes, Etc. (London: Sotheby’s, May 13, 1942), lot 78, as A Girl.

Catalogue of Fine Portrait Miniatures (London: Sotheby’s, May 1, 1958), lot 54, as A Lady.