The most important private collection of portraits by John Smart  (1741-1811) - the greatest miniature painter in 18th century Britain - comprising 45 works will be exhibited for the first time by Philip Mould & Company this November. Painstakingly amassed over nearly 30 years by a Private European Collector who admired Smart for his precision and technical skill, the collection represents the most comprehensive body of a leading Georgian artist’s work possible to acquire on the open market today, and is the first time the collection will be publicly displayed. In addition there is the added bonus of the potential repatriation of these important gems, particularly as few have found their way into public collections.

Philip Mould notes “Smart’s peers were Gainsborough and Reynolds and although his works are diminutive in size, in his own medium he was their artistic equal. This is the chance we have been waiting for to give this often eclipsed virtuoso the stage he magnificently deserves. This body of work spans his career, two continents, and incorporates the full range of Smart’s artistry. As a feat of collecting from the late 1980s through to the mid 2000s it is remarkable. The opportunity to do the same with Smart’s equals on the scale of life such as Gainsborough, Lawrence or Reynolds passed long ago.”

Although prolific and highly sought-after, little was previously known about John Smart. Miniatures specialist Emma Rutherford and researcher Lawrence Hendra at Philip Mould & Company applied their celebrated sleuthing skills to unearth much of the artist’s personal history. They have made some landmark discoveries including learning that Smart, who was long thought to have heralded from the Norfolk stable of artists (with the likes of Constable etc), was in fact from then fashionable Soho, London. John Smart is now considered one of the most highly valued miniaturists to collect. In his own time his miniatures cost 25 guineas, which could be described as the same cost as renting a large town house for a year in London.

Emma Rutherford says “This exceptional collection has offered us an extraordinary opportunity to solve many of the mysteries that surrounded Smart’s early life.  Spanning the length of his career, including the significant years he spent in India and his subsequent successful return to Britain, Smart’s portrait miniatures represent an artistic zenith in the practice of portraiture in eighteenth-century British society.”

Highlights from the collection include a dashing miniature of Richard Twining (1749-1824) from the famous tea dynasty, wearing a cobalt blue coat, his waistcoat embroidered with flowers and gold thread, lace cravat, his powdered hair worn ‘en queue’. Richard, grandson of Thomas Twining, was literally born into the family business, with his birth taking place at Devereux Court, Strand – the site of the original teahouse at Tom’s coffeehouse.  From another renowned dynasty is A Lady, identified as ‘Miss Byron’ wearing an ermine-trimmed blue dress slashed at the sleeves to reveal white and fastened with a jewel at the centre, her hair worn up with a hanging curl and decorated with an embroidered silk gauze falling at her back.

John Smart was a diligent, hardworking artist who chiefly depicted the wealthy merchant classes. This took him to India in 1785 where he spent ten years working there with employees of the East India Company.  The miniatures from this period are marked in his signature with the addition of the letter ‘I’. Smart also managed to capture the heat and humidity of India in the portraits, recording the flushed and sunburnt faces of the Caucasian sitters that unmistakably demonstrate where they were painted.

Alongside the body of portrait miniatures from his period in India where he enjoyed a constant flow of commissions, Smart produced a small number of sketches of Indian subjects during his time in Madras. These drawings are particularly rare and desirable. Included in this collection is a striking sketch of a young man that is inscribed on the reverse ‘A Young Hindu, probably called ‘Venkataramman’, wearing a jama and turban’. Until recently this inscription was concealed, and suggests the sitter was a ‘Bramin’ (or ‘Brahmin’) – a member of the highest caste amongst Hindus.

John Smart arrived back in London from Madras in December 1795 and moved into 20 Grafton Street, Mayfair (literally down the road from where this collection will be displayed next month) where once again he proved a prodigious artist.  From this period there are some exquisite examples of his work.  Of particular interest is the portrait of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet of Wexford (1743-1830), wearing grey-brown double-breasted jacket with gilt buttons over a white waistcoat and cravat and a charming portrait of A Young Girl, possibly Miss E. Lambert, wearing a décolleté white dress with thin gold waistband, her hair worn short.

Image caption: A Lady, wearing a low-cut pearl-bordered yellow bodice with mauve bow, fur-bordered mauve dress with jewelled pearl and sapphire clasp and embroidered pointed lace collar, her hair worn curled and pink-powdered and decorated with white ostrich feather by John Smart. © Philip Mould & Company.

Philip Mould & Company is a leading specialist dealer in British art and Old Master Paintings – and the world’s leading authority on British Portraiture. Based in Dover Street in the heart of London’s fashionable art market, the gallery offers a large selection of fine paintings for sale, from Tudor and Jacobean panel pictures to 18th century landscapes, as well as works by Old Masters such as Titian and Van Dyck, and antique portrait miniatures. Exhibitions are regularly held in the gallery, which feature loans from national and international institutions as well as works owned by Philip Mould Co.

Emma Rutherford is a freelance art historian specialising in portrait miniatures and silhouettes.  She set up the Portrait Miniature Department at Phillip’s Auctioneers. After the amalgamation of Phillips and Bonhams she became Departmental Director.  During her time in the auction world, she sourced and handled the Albion Collection, the highest grossing collection of portrait miniatures ever to come to come to the market.  She has also curated the family collection of portrait miniatures, entitled Heirs and Graces, at Harewood House in Yorkshire and has recently completed her first book, entitled “Silhouette; the Art of the Shadow,” which is now available from bookstores.  Emma recently curated the ‘Secret Faces’ and Samuel Cooper exhibitions at Philip Mould & Co.

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