John Smart
Portrait miniature of a Lady, wearing a lilac dress with white trim, a gold brooch at her corsage, her hair worn upswept with a looped plait and curled into ringlets, 1805
Watercolour on ivory
Set into an inner gold frame, the outer silver frame with the pierced surround set with rose-cut diamonds
Set into an inner gold frame, the outer silver frame with the pierced surround set with rose-cut diamonds
Oval, 75mm (2 15/16 in.) high
Signed with initials and dated ‘J.S/1805’
Philip Mould & Company
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com This large work by Smart sits firmly in the final phase of his career, when he responded to technical innovations which...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
This large work by Smart sits firmly in the final phase of his career, when he responded to technical innovations which allowed larger pieces of ivory to be utilised by artists. His sitters also reflect a change, posing in Empire waist dresses, this unknown sitter forgoing the standard white muslin for a lilac-blue dress with ruched bust. Her hair is worn in a fashionable neo-Grec coiffure, a long plait secured into a curl on the top of her head.
Provenance
Milan, Innocenti Collection;Karin Henninger-Tavcar, 1990;
Private Collection, Germany