Style of Pierre Adolphe Hall, Portrait of a Woman, late 19th/early 20th century

This miniature was painted in the style of Pierre Adolphe Hall during a period of renewed interest in eighteenth-century French art and the work of Hall. It lacks Hall’s trademark technique with a combination of layered impasto layered with a delicate wash of watercolor. We are grateful to Bernd Pappe for his insight on the attribution of this miniature during a visit to the Nelson-Atkins from July 24–26, 2023 (see Bernd Pappe, “Attribution Report,” August 6, 2023, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files).

Unknown owner, by June 21, 1951 [1];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Catalogue of Gold Snuff Boxes, Watches, Musical Boxes, Objects of Vertu and Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, June 21, 1951, lot 92, as A Lady, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1951–1958 [2];

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

Notes

[1] “Various properties” sold lots 79–98.

[2] “A fine French miniature of a lady, by Pierre Adolphe Hall, signed and dated 1787, nearly full face, half-length, in white dress with blue ribbons and waistband against a woodland background, 2 1/4 in., in ormolu frame with chased borders and ribbon ties, 4 in.” According to an attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 92 for £28. 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.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 248, as Unknown Lady.

Catalogue of Gold Snuff Boxes, Watches, Musical Boxes, Objects of Vertu and Fine Portrait Miniatures (London: Sotheby’s, June 21, 1951), 13, as A Lady

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 248, p. 81, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.