Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1790

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1790,” 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, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1466.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1790,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.1466.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Although this unidentified man’s coat appears simple, with cloth-covered buttons, the hint of red above his waistcoat suggests a sitter well aware of fashion trends. At first glance, the red marking appears to be a ribbon worn around the sitter’s neck, but it is more likely a slip, or under-waistcoat, a trend that arose in the 1790s and is seen in numerous portraits of men from the period.¹ Slips had no practical purpose; they served as a second waistcoat, worn under the first and extending slightly above the upper edge. The slip waistcoat usually had a red lining along the button edge, providing a rich contrast to the typically white waistcoat.² A subtle shade of red can also be seen on the top edge of the lapel and button. Andrew Plimer employs a slightly deeper shade of cranberry-red in the outlines of his sitter’s upper eyelid and lower waterline, providing a pop of color from his pale gray eyes.

Plimer approached the sitter’s hair and clothes in an entirely different way from his face. The texture of the sitter’s forehead is smooth, and the brushwork is not nearly as delineated as the sporadic lines in his hair and straight crosshatching in the coat; this is characteristic of the second phase of the artist’s career. Portions of the clothing, including the collar and bottom of the cravat, appear unfinished due to their translucent quality.³ The combination of the sitter’s transparent collar, fragmentary shirt front, and gray eyes give the portrait an overall ethereal quality, derived from the miniatures of Richard Cosway (1742–1821), who may have been Plimer’s teacher.

Notes

1. Valerie Cumming, C. W. Cunnington, and P. E. Cunnington, “Under-waistcoat,” The Dictionary of Fashion History (New York: Berg Publishers, 2010), 215. See Unknown, Slip Waistcoat, 1820–30, cotton, satin, hand-sewn, back length: 20 in. (50.8 cm), side width: 10.5 in. (26.7 cm), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, T.153-1931, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75646/slip-waistcoat-unknown/.

2. There are multiple examples of Plimer’s male sitters wearing this red under-waistcoat. For two examples, see Andrew Plimer, A Gentleman, called Charles Cumberland, 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm) high, sold at Portrait Miniatures and Silhouettes, Bonhams, London, October 7, 2003, lot 127, https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/10534/lot/127/; and A Gentleman, 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm) high, sold at Fine Portrait Miniatures, Bonhams, London, May 24, 2006, lot 115, https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/13752/lot/115/?category=list.

3. It is possible that portions of his cravat are, indeed, bare ivory.

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. 175, as Unknown Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 175, p. 60, (repro.), as Unknown Man.