1772
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of a Woman is a 1772 unspecified by John Smart, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman in a white dress looks over her shoulder. Her hair is piled high, and her cheeks are softly pink. This is a tiny painting—smaller than a playing card. It’s actually a practice sketch, kept by the artist for reference. Most of these sketches were never turned into finished works, so this one feels like a secret peek into the artist’s process. If you like these delicate portraits, look up England, 18th century for more.
Although it is impossible to say if it was always part of the artist’s process to execute a preparatory sketch prior to painting each miniature, we do know that John Smart retained many hundreds of these sketches. A group of preparatory sketches—of which this portrait is one—descended through the Smirke family after Smart’s daughter Sarah gave a sketchbook containing preparatory portrait studies to her friend Mary Smirke, sister of the celebrated Victorian architect Sydney Smirke. This book was probably broken up around 1877 when it was divided between Sydney’s daughters Mary Jemmett and Mrs.…
Sketches helped John Smart work out the particulars of a portrait before commencing the miniature on ivory; they were useful in the event that a duplicate might later be required.
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.
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