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Source Description
This work dates to around 1800, when George Engleheart was in the mature stage of his career. The sitter wears a blue coat with brass buttons over a yellow waistcoat and high white collar with ruffles. The initials W.A. on the back of the case probably identify the sitter, but Engleheart’s fee book records only his sitter’s surname in most instances, so it is impossible to determine if this portrait is among those numerous sitters with an A surname. The meticulous construction of the elaborate case and the nature of its components—gold, enamel, and diamonds—indicates that it is probably original. <br>The gold initials on the bordered, blue enamel back are encircled with braided brown hair. The twenty-four brilliant-cut diamonds are genuine, though paste diamonds were becoming more widely available during this period. When this work entered Cleveland’s collection in the 1940s, the cost of reproducing the frame was noted in curatorial records to be 20,000 to 25,000 francs, according to the dealer Leo Schidlof. It is the only miniature from the Greene collection whose setting was evaluated in such a way.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
120831
label
Portrait of a Man
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
120831
contentType
object
title
Portrait of a Man
description
This work dates to around 1800, when George Engleheart was in the mature stage of his career. The sitter wears a blue coat with brass buttons over a yellow waistcoat and high white collar with ruffles. The initials W.A. on the back of the case probably identify the sitter, but Engleheart’s fee book records only his sitter’s surname in most instances, so it is impossible to determine if this portrait is among those numerous sitters with an A surname. The meticulous construction of the elaborate case and the nature of its components—gold, enamel, and diamonds—indicates that it is probably original. <br>The gold initials on the bordered, blue enamel back are encircled with braided brown hair. The twenty-four brilliant-cut diamonds are genuine, though paste diamonds were becoming more widely available during this period. When this work entered Cleveland’s collection in the 1940s, the cost of reproducing the frame was noted in curatorial records to be 20,000 to 25,000 francs, according to the dealer Leo Schidlof. It is the only miniature from the Greene collection whose setting was evaluated in such a way.
date
c. 1800
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80016481
creators
3709
genreSpecific
Portrait Miniature
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Framed: 8.7 x 7.4 cm (3 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 7.7 x 6.2 cm (3 1/16 x 2 7/16 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
1941.556
Source extras
tec
watercolor on ivory, in a later gold, enamel, and diamond frame
tombstone
Portrait of a Man, c. 1800. George Engleheart (British, 1752–1829). Watercolor on ivory, in a later gold, enamel, and diamond frame; framed: 8.7 x 7.4 cm (3 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.); unframed: 7.7 x 6.2 cm (3 1/16 x 2 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1941.556
collection
Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
didYouKnow
Braided brown hair is glazed on the back of this miniature.
citations
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Portrait Miniatures; The Edward B. Greene Collection</em>. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 27, no. 12; reproduced: pl. XVIII
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. 62, pp. 242-243
creditline
The Edward B. Greene Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:13:43.717000
sourceId
120831
dept
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
coll
Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
med
watercolor on ivory, in a later gold, enamel, and diamond frame
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ce1716416b12d3b0