A Gentleman, traditionally identified as Mr. Ridley, wearing a blue jacket, with lace shirt and white waistcoat embroidered with flowers and gold thread

Object Description

Watercolour on ivory (licence GLN1QX3N)
Gilt-metal frame with blue glass reverse

Although it was Smart’s practice to sign and date every miniature, this may have been an unfinished work, dating to the later 1770s. Other alternatives may be that this was a secondary version or unwanted by the client. Intriguingly, there is an (unphotographed) sketch held by Norfolk Museums Service by Smart of a ‘Mr. Ridley’ which may be the basis for this miniature. There was also an engraver named William Ridley (1764-1838) working in India at the same time as John Smart – although the sitter would be too old in the late 1770s to be the same person, they may have been related.

The detailed gold thread and delicate floral embroidery on the sitter’s waistcoat are typical of Smart’s painstaking attention to detail and ability to convey texture in watercolour.

Object History

Provenance:
Sotheby’s, London, 6 June 1996, lot 39 (as ‘Mr. Ridley’);
Karin Henninger-Tavcar (as ‘Mr. Ridley’);
Private Collection, Germany;
Private Collection, UK.

Exhibition:
Philip Mould, London ‘John Smart; A Genius Magnified’, Emma Rutherford; Lawrence Hendra; Lindsay Stainton; Haydn Williams, 2014, no. 9

Object Literature

Probably Foskett, 1964, p.73
Philip Mould & Co., London ‘John Smart; A Genius Magnified’, Emma Rutherford; Lawrence Hendra; Lindsay Stainton; Haydn Williams, 2014, pp.30-31

Object Details