Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, 1785

Chicago:

Blythe Sobol, “Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, 1785,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1460.

MLA:

Sobol, Blythe. “Andrew Plimer, Portrait of a Man, 1785,” 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: 10.37764/8322.5.1460

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This miniature portrait by Andrew Plimer depicts an unknown gentleman whose confident and direct gaze, combined with the refinement of his clothing and hairstyle, suggest a man of means and status, perhaps a member of the English gentry. The slight tilt of his head further projects an air of assurance. The high collar of his blue coat, complete with a generous coating of powder at the back, marks him as a man of fashion and accords with the date of 1785 inscribed by the artist.

Under his coat, the sitter wears a white shirt or waistcoat and a white cravat tied in a simple knot. His queue of hair is likewise tied with a wide black ribbon. Plimer has captured the texture of the hair with precision, using tiny brushstrokes to create the impression of individual strands. Despite the seemingly heavy use of hair powder, the sitter’s natural dark auburn hair color comes through at the sideburns and underside of the hair. During the late eighteenth century, men’s fashion began to shift away from the elaborate styles of the previous century and toward a simpler, more understated aesthetic.¹ The sitter’s clothing reflects this trend, with its focus on clean lines and subtle details.

Plimer imbues the portrait with a sense of naturalism through the addition of details such as the row of three large, gleaming gold buttons set at slightly odd angles, each catching the light in a different way. He expertly renders the folds and textures of the sitter’s clothing, particularly the ruffled cravat, which surges open at the sitter’s chest, further emphasized by the white lining of the coat lapel jutting out in a sharp triangle to the left. The characteristic lightness and linearity of Plimer’s brushwork and his thin layers of washes create a sense of depth and volume in the portrait. The colors are cool and subdued, with a focus on shades of blue, gray, and white that complement the sitter’s clothing and bring out the color of his eyes.

While his miniatures lack the spontaneous ingenuity of the works of Richard Cosway (1742–1821), to whom he is often compared, Andrew Plimer is known for a delicate and refined approach to detail, which he utilizes to distinction in this dashing portrait of an unknown man. The relative naturalism of this portrait stands in contrast to Plimer’s later works, which are larger in scale and notable for their dramatic sky backgrounds and highly stylized facial features, probably reflecting Cosway’s greater influence. This portrait was placed in a bracelet mount, intended to be worn close to the body, perhaps clasped around the wrist of a loving wife or sweetheart.²

Notes

1. On this development, see Lydia Edwards, How to Read a Suit: A Guide to Changing Men’s Fashion from the 17th to the 20th Century (New York: Bloomsbury, 2020), 43–74.

2. According to Elle Shushan, the case is probably original. Elle Shushan visit, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

With Sidney Hand, London, by 1924 [1];

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.

Notes

[1] Sidney Hand (1877–1952) was a London dealer who exhibited a large group of portrait miniatures in their gallery in 1924, including the present work, which appears in a printed exhibition catalogue. Sidney Hand, Signed Miniatures (London: Sidney Hand, 1924), 7, 22.

Signed Miniatures, Sidney Hand, London, 1924, no. 6, as A fine miniature of a gentleman.

Sidney Hand, Signed Miniatures, exh. cat. (London: Sidney Hand, 1924), 7, 22, (repro.).

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), 265, as Portrait of a Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 174, p. 59, (repro.), as Unknown Man.