John Smart, A Lady, 1810

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Mr. A. J. V. Radford, by 1929 [1];

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1964;

Sold at their sale, Silhouettes and Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, March 15, 1982, lot 87, as A Lady [2];

Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher (1919–2016), Germany and Switzerland, by 2016 [3];

Sold, The Pohl-Ströher Collection of Portrait Miniatures, Part III, Sotheby’s, London, December 5, 2019, lot 326, as Portrait of a Lady [4];

Current location unknown.

Notes

[1] According to Basil Long, British Miniaturists (London: Holland Press, 1929), 408, Mr. A. J. V. Radford had the following miniature: “A lady in a white dress, with the usual characteristics of Smart’s work, but unusual on account of (1) its size, c. 3 3/4 in. x 3 in.; (2) its shape—rectangular with rounded corners; (3) its signature—J. Smart pinx.t / Oct 1810. This must be one of Smart’s latest works.”

[2] “A lady, shown half-length, her dark hair elaborately dressed in curls, wearing a pearl necklace and white dress trimmed with a lace ruffle and matching lace at the sleeves and a narrow white belt caught with a gold clasp beneath her bosom, rectangular 3 15/16 in.; 10 cm. Literature: Foskett (D.), John Smart, 1964, illustrated pl. XXVIII no. 100.” The annotated catalogue has a circled lot number and lists “4200” below the lot description.

[3] Pohl-Ströher began collecting European portrait miniatures from 1978 until the time of her death. It is possible she acquired the work from its March 15, 1982, sale.

[4] “Watercolour and bodycolour on ivory, gilt-metal frame; signed and dated lower left: J. Smart pinx / Octr 1810, 98 by 77 mm.” For more information, see https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/the-pohl-stroeher-collection-of-portrait-miniatures-part-iii/john-smart-portrait-of-a-lady-2.

John Smart, Sophie Howell, sold at Bonhams, London, Home & Interiors: the Gentleman’s Library Sale, January 19, 2017, lot 181 [1].

Notes

[1] The work sold, first, at Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Drawings and Watercolours and Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, April 9, 1992, lot 198, as Portrait of a Lady. Interestingly, this was the same sale as David des Granges’s A Lady, lot 132. The miniature sold, later, with an added sitter identification: Bonhams, London, Fine Portrait Miniatures, Including the Collection of an American Gentleman Formed over Thirty-Five Years, November 21, 2007, lot 274. The lot description states, “Sophie Howell, wearing white dress with frilled collar, ribbon waistband held with double gilt clasp, her hair upswept and curled, landscape background with a house and avenue. Watercolour on card, square ormolu frame with foliate and ribbon motif. Circular, 99 mm (3 7/8 in) high. Footnotes: The present lot is a version of a work on ivory by John Smart dated October 1810, in the Starr Collection. See Daphne Foskett, John Smart, the man and his miniatures, London, 1964, pl. XXVIII, fig. 100.”

Basil Long, British Miniaturists (London: Holland Press, 1929), 408, as A Lady in a White Dress.

Daphne Foskett, John Smart: The Man and His Miniatures (New York: October House, 1964), xv, (repro.), as An Unknown Lady.

Silhouettes and Fine Portrait Miniatures (London: Sotheby’s, March 15, 1982), 22, as A Young Lady.