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Source Description
Executed around 1795, this work exhibits strong yet restrained tones. The background is painted in muted gray-browns, not the bright blue cloudy sky for which George Engleheart became known. The sitter’s position is somewhat awkward, with his shoulders nearly squared with the picture plane but his head in a three-quarter view. He wears a gray coat with fabric-covered buttons and the high collar fashionable in the 1790s. His hair is carefully delineated with dark gray brushstrokes applied over a pale gray ground. The sitter’s powdered hair is worn long, and his dark, deep-set eyes cast shadows that lend drama to the portrait. This proto-romantic sensibility is characteristic of the artist’s work between 1780 and 1795, as is its relatively modest size. Painted on ivory measuring 6.9 centimeters high, it is the smaller format of Engleheart miniatures before the turn of the century, after which the format expanded, as seen in the museum’s other two works by the artist. The portrait is unsigned, which is typical for his works of this period. The simple gold frame is original. The work was in the collection of Sir Harry Waechter, Bart., the British businessman and philanthropist, until his 1929 death at his home in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
123411
label
Portrait of a Man
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
123411
contentType
object
title
Portrait of a Man
description
Executed around 1795, this work exhibits strong yet restrained tones. The background is painted in muted gray-browns, not the bright blue cloudy sky for which George Engleheart became known. The sitter’s position is somewhat awkward, with his shoulders nearly squared with the picture plane but his head in a three-quarter view. He wears a gray coat with fabric-covered buttons and the high collar fashionable in the 1790s. His hair is carefully delineated with dark gray brushstrokes applied over a pale gray ground. The sitter’s powdered hair is worn long, and his dark, deep-set eyes cast shadows that lend drama to the portrait. This proto-romantic sensibility is characteristic of the artist’s work between 1780 and 1795, as is its relatively modest size. Painted on ivory measuring 6.9 centimeters high, it is the smaller format of Engleheart miniatures before the turn of the century, after which the format expanded, as seen in the museum’s other two works by the artist. The portrait is unsigned, which is typical for his works of this period. The simple gold frame is original. The work was in the collection of Sir Harry Waechter, Bart., the British businessman and philanthropist, until his 1929 death at his home in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
date
1795
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79900585
creators
3709
genreSpecific
Portrait Miniature
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Framed: 7.6 x 6.2 cm (3 x 2 7/16 in.); Sight: 7 x 5.7 cm (2 3/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
1943.64
Source extras
tec
watercolor on ivory in an original gold frame
tombstone
Portrait of a Man, 1795. George Engleheart (British, 1752–1829). Watercolor on ivory in an original gold frame; framed: 7.6 x 6.2 cm (3 x 2 7/16 in.); sight: 7 x 5.7 cm (2 3/4 x 2 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1943.640
collection
P - British before 1800
didYouKnow
Engleheart charged 10 to 12 guineas for his miniature portraits; such a fee would have been within the means of aristocratic and upper-middle-class patrons.
citations
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures: <em>The Edward B. Greene Collection</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 26, no. 11; Reproduced: pl. XVII
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. <em>European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993.
page_number
p. 286
citation
Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto.<em> Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. </em>2013.
page_number
Mentioned: p.86
citation
Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl.<em> British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. 2013.
page_number
Cat. no. 61, pp. 239-240
creditline
The Edward B. Greene Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:20:58.709000
sourceId
123411
dept
European Painting and Sculpture
coll
P - British before 1800
med
watercolor on ivory in an original gold frame
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
b9835d4b69306352