John Smart
Portrait miniature of a Lady, identified as Harriet Blanshard (née Gale) (1745-1822), wearing low-cut blue trimmed gold dress with lace collar, 1782
Watercolour on ivory
Oval, 48mm (1 7/8 in.) high
Signed with initials and dated ‘J.S/1782’
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com The sitter is identified on an old label on the reverse as Harriet Gale, wife of Captain John Atkinson Blanshard (1756-1806)...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
The sitter is identified on an old label on the reverse as Harriet Gale, wife of Captain John Atkinson Blanshard (1756-1806) of the East India Company, and granddaughter of the scholar Henry Gale of Scruton, Yorkshire. This seems plausible as not only does this accord with the sitter’s apparent age, but it is also known that Smart was very well acquainted with this group of patrons, both prior to his departure to India in 1785 and following his return in 1795. It is known for example, that in 1786 Captain Blanshard was commanding officer of the ‘Rockingham’, which was acquired in 1793 by the merchant Robert Wigram whose portrait by Smart (1800) is also in this exhibition [Cat.33]. Furthermore, whilst in the ownership of Wigram, the ‘Rockingham’ was commanded by the Hon. Hugh Lindsay, who, according to Daphne Foskett, was also painted by Smart in the same year as Wigram.
The sitter is identified on an old label on the reverse as Harriet Gale, wife of Captain John Atkinson Blanshard (1756-1806) of the East India Company, and granddaughter of the scholar Henry Gale of Scruton, Yorkshire. This seems plausible as not only does this accord with the sitter’s apparent age, but it is also known that Smart was very well acquainted with this group of patrons, both prior to his departure to India in 1785 and following his return in 1795. It is known for example, that in 1786 Captain Blanshard was commanding officer of the ‘Rockingham’, which was acquired in 1793 by the merchant Robert Wigram whose portrait by Smart (1800) is also in this exhibition [Cat.33]. Furthermore, whilst in the ownership of Wigram, the ‘Rockingham’ was commanded by the Hon. Hugh Lindsay, who, according to Daphne Foskett, was also painted by Smart in the same year as Wigram.
Provenance
Karin Henninger-Tavcar, 1995;Private Collection, Germany.