Artist's Biography
See the artist’s biography in volume 4.
Provenance
M. R. Harris Collection, by May 2, 1961 [1];
Purchased from his sale, Important English Miniatures of the 17th, 18th and Early 19th Centuries, Christie’s, London, May 2, 1961, lot 56, as Miss Mary Bathurst, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1961 [2];
With Karin Henninger-Tavcar, Pforzheim, 1999;
Private Collection, Germany;
With Philip Mould Ltd., London [3];
Current location unknown.
Notes
[1] According to the sales catalogue, lots 54–56 were sold by “The Property of M. R. Harris, Esq.”
[2] “Miss Mary Bathurst, by John Smart, signed with initials and dated 1792 I, three quarter face to the left, gaze directed at the artist, wearing simple white muslin dress with lace collar and blue ribbons—oval, 2 1/2 in. high—in gold frame with narrow engraved borders, the centre of the reverse set with plaited hair and gold monogram.” According to Philip Mould Ltd., Leggatt bought lot 56 for 700 guineas. 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.
[3] “This portrait is a rare depiction of a European child dating from Smart’s final years in India. The Bathurst name has longstanding connections with India, a Sir Benjamin Bathurst (1638–1704) became a Governor of the East India Company in 1695. In 1797, the third Earl Bathurst turned down the Governorship of Madras with a telling note on the prospect of life in India for women; ‘It would make Lady Bathurst so perfectly wretched that I have not hesitated a moment to give a positive refusal.’ Although it has not been possible to identify to which branch of the Bathurst family this child belongs, the commission from Smart would have been an expensive one. She may be the same child listed in an (untraced) portrait of ‘Mrs. Bathurst and child,’ listed by the artist Robert Home (1752–1834). The child has been dressed in laced-edged muslin, suitable for the Indian climate, her hair curled into ringlets.” For more information, see https://historicalportraits.com/artists/36-john-smart/works/3688-john-smart-portrait-miniature-of-miss-mary-bathurst-wearing-white-1792/.
References
Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): frontispiece, (repro.).
Daphne Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters (New York: Praeger, 1972), 95, (repro.), as Miss Mary Bathurst.
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