England, 18th century / 1770
Portrait of a Man, Possibly Sir Soulden Lawrence
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Portrait of a Man, Possibly Sir Soulden Lawrence as portrait miniature (England, 18th century · 1770).
This miniature is signed by the artist John Smart, who used his initials JS.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this portrait miniature as watercolor on ivory in an amalgam frame and credits John I Smart (British, 1741–1811).
The museum's collection notes: This portrait is an excellent example of John Smart’s early work. The unknown sitter has blue eyes and wears a light blue coat embroidered in gold, a white waistcoat, and a high white collar with a lace frill down the front. He also dons a powdered wig—still fashionable in 1770. While the sitter’s cheeks are flushed with a delicate pink, his complexion does not have the ruddy quality so often seen in Smart’s later work. The intricate gold embroidery on the sitter’s jacket exemplifies the ornamentation lavished upon menswear during the early and mid-eighteenth century—a male fashion trend replaced two decades later by one that stressed greater
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtPortrait of a Man, Possibly Sir Soulden LawrenceOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.