1786
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Portrait of a Man is a 1786 unspecified by John Smart, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This is a tiny painted portrait of a man with powdered hair tied back in a ribbon. His gray-brown eyes look straight at you. Smart made it in India, where he lived for years. The hair looks almost alive—thin white strokes on top of loose color make it shimmer. Over time, some colors changed, turning parts of the hair pinkish. That wasn’t planned. Look up how artists used stippling—tiny dots—to build faces in small portraits like this.
John Smart painted this miniature in India, where he was based in Madras. The unidentified sitter has gray-brown eyes and powdered hair worn en queue . Smart painted the hair with a combination of loose brushstrokes, over which fine white lines are applied to suggest individual hairs and create movement that is carried through the stippling of the face. The manner in which he mixed his colors sometimes resulted in an alteration of the pigment, causing a sitter’s hair to appear pinkish, as can be seen here. A dusting of powder is visible on the sitter’s shoulder. He wears a blue coat featuring…
John Smart signed this miniature in the corner with his initials and the date 1786.
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Smart (1 May 1741 – 1 May 1811) was an English painter who specialised in portrait miniatures. He was a contemporary of Richard Cosway, George Engleheart, William Wood and Richard Crosse.
See the richer artist page
