John Smart, Portrait of a Boy, 1780, unknown dimensions, repro. in Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961)

John Smart, Portrait of a Boy, 1780

Artist John Smart (English, 1741–1811)
Title Portrait of a Boy
Object Date 1780
Dimensions oval 1 1/3 in. (3.4 cm) high
Inscription Signed: “J.S. / 1780”

doi: 10.37764/8322.5.4800

Artist's Biography

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Provenance

Jeffery Ludlam Barton Whitehead (1831–1915), Kent, England, by 1903 [1];

Unknown owner, by October 21–22, 1918;

Sold at the unknown owner’s sale, Gemälde-Sammlung aus königlichem Besitz nebst wertvollen Beiträgen aus Privatbesitz, alte und moderne Meister, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Miniaturen u., Leo Schidlof’s Kunstauktionshaus, Vienna, October 21–22, 1918, lot 307, as Portrat eines Knaben [2];

Kommerzialrat Victor Reisenleitner (1863–ca. 1935), Vienna, by May 1924;

Sold at his sale, Antiquitäten u. Kunstgegenstände (Glas, Porzellan, Dosen, Vitrinenobjekte, Silber, Skulpturen, Möbel, Teppiche etc.), Leo Schidlof’s Kunstauktionshaus, Vienna, March 31–April 3, 1925, lot 587, as Bildnis eines Knaben [3].

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1961;

Current location unknown.

NOTES

[1] The miniature is listed as Whitehead Collection in Joshua James Foster, Miniature Painters: British and Foreign (London: Dickinsons, 1903). There was a posthumous sale of Whitehead’s miniatures in Catalogue of the Collection of Objects of Art and Vertu Formed by Jeffery Whitehead, Esq., Christie’s, London, August 4–5, 9–11, 1915, but there is no specific reference to this portrait in the sales catalogue.

[2] According to the annotated sales catalogue, “R[illeg.]ba” bought lot 307 for “18000 K.”

[3] According to the attached price list, lot 587 sold for 5,000 shillings.

Exhibitions

Internationale Miniaturen-Austellung in der Albertina Wien, Vienna, Albertina, May–June 1924, no. 826, p. 46, as Knabenbildnis.

References

Gemälde-Sammlung aus königlichem Besitz nebst wertvollen Beiträgen aus Privatbesitz, alte und moderne Meister, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Miniaturen u. (Vienna: Leo Schidlof, October 21–22, 1918), 69 (repro.).

Antiquitäten u. Kunstgegenstände (Glas, Porzellan, Dosen, Vitrinenobjekte, Silber, Skulpturen, Möbel, Teppiche etc.) (Vienna: Leo Schidlof, March 31–April 3, 1925), 50 (repro.).

Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): frontispiece, (repro.).

No known related works at this time. If you have additional information on this object, please tell us more.

John Smart, Portrait of a Boy, 1780, unknown dimensions, repro. in Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961)