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Portrait of Sir Captain West of the Dutton Indiaman
John I Smart (British, 1741–1811)
1785
- Medium
- watercolor over traces of black chalk, with metallic gold paint on laid paper
- Classification
- Portrait Miniature
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 16.3 x 15.3 cm (6 7/16 x 6 in.); Unframed: 19.6 x 15.3 cm (7 11/16 x 6 in.)
- Culture
- England, 18th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Smart painted Captain West’s head in profile, turned to the right. His powdered hair is worn en queue with curls above his ears and white powder on his shoulders. He has long eyelashes, parted lips, and a grayish cast to his skin tone, particularly over his beard. West dons a blue coat with gold buttonholes embroidered in gold and a white waistcoat, high collar, and cravat tied in a small bow. This work is a finished drawing by Smart, evidenced in part by its larger size and by the fact that the painting of the sitter’s clothing is complete and the bust is placed within an elaborate border comprised of blue, metallic gold, and gray lines. This finished quality does not preclude the possibility that the drawing may also have functioned as a preparatory sketch for a miniature on ivory, which has not been located. Captain James West sailed the Dutton Indiaman from England to Madras, India, on several occasions, including Smart’s voyage in 1785. At least one of the sons of British judge Sir Elijah Impey was traveling with Smart on his journey to India and had his portrait taken by the artist. Another of Impey’s sons wrote of an earlier return passage to England made with Captain West…
