1776
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Mr. Shippard is a 1776 unspecified by John Smart, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a small, careful portrait of a man in a powdered wig and dark coat. This is actually a practice sketch—one of hundreds the artist kept. He drew it first, then painted the final miniature. The lines are loose, almost like a quick note, but the face feels alive. It’s rare to peek at an artist’s first try. Look up more portraits from England, 18th century to see how these tiny faces shaped a whole era.
Although it is impossible to say whether or not 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 its contents was divided between Sydney’s daughters…
Sketches helped John Smart work out the particulars of a portrait before commencing the miniature on ivory, and 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.
See the richer artist page
