id: 121283 accession number: 1942.1153 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.1153 updated: 2022-04-02 09:00:21.468000 Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1805. Andrew Plimer (British, 1763-1837). Watercolor on ivory in original gold frame; framed: 8.3 x 7 cm (3 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.); unframed: 7.9 x 6.5 cm (3 1/8 x 2 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection 1942.1153 title: Portrait of a Young Man title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1805 creation date earliest: 1800 creation date latest: 1810 current location: creditline: The Edward B. Greene Collection copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: watercolor on ivory in original gold frame department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Portrait Miniature find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Andrew Plimer (British, 1763-1837) - artist Born the sons of a clockmaker, Nathaniel Plimer and his younger brother Andrew initially trained in their father's profession, although they grew restless with this trade, and ran off to live with Gypsies for two years. By 1781, they were together in London, and determined to practice art. Both took up residence with established artists. Nathaniel worked as a servant to the enamellist, Henry Bone, whereas Andrew became the valet to the portrait and miniature painter, Richard Cosway. Cosway discovered Andrew copying one of his miniatures and introduced him to miniature painting. Andrew assimilated his master's airy execution and adapted Cosway's linear brushwork which leaves much of the bare ivory visible. He also employed Cosway's use of large, expressive eyes which made his miniatures appear soulfully elegant, earning him high praise amongst legions of admirers. A quick study, Andrew set up his own studio by 1786 and he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1786-1830. Andrew Plimer's works fall into two phases. In the first, his sitters appear more naturalistically rendered than those painted after around 1789. During the earlier period he frequently included his initials, "A.P.," on the front of the miniature, followed by a date. By contrast, he did not sign or date works in the second phase. Furthermore, in Andrew's second phase of work, he reduced his palette and perhaps due to his high output, sitters share many visual characteristics; in particular, his women have elongated necks, long noses and large appealing eyes. --- measurements: Framed: 8.3 x 7 cm (3 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 7.9 x 6.5 cm (3 1/8 x 2 9/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: inscription at lower left indiscernible label at top of back: 266 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America opening date: 1993-03-26T04:00:00 Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993). title: Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives opening date: 2013-11-10T00:00:00 Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5, 2009 - April 6, 2009). --- PROVENANCE (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene) date: -1928 footnotes: citations: Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1928-1942 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1942- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This sitter has been traditionally identified as a member of the famous Baring banking family although which brother we are unsure. digital description: wall description: This miniature is an extremely fi ne example of Andrew Plimer’s mature work. Painted around 1805, the artist eschews the Richard Cosway-esque blue sky background he so often adopted for an elaborate network of crosshatching over a rich brown ground, into which the sitter almost dissolves. He has gray eyes and light brown hair and wears a grayish-brown coat and a white collar. His gaze firmly meets that of the viewer. The painting is housed in its original gold frame, the verso of which has a curl of light brown hair fastened with a band of pearls on white opalescent glass under clear glass. There is also a paper label of unknown origin at the top, on which is written “226.” The sitter’s hair is worn à l’antique (hair cut short and worn in curls, especially around the forehead), a style sported by men after the turn of the century that harks back to the coiffures of statesmen of ancient Rome.1 In addition, this sitter’s brown hair is completely unpowdered, as was fashionable among young men at the turn of the century. The hair is beautifully delineated by small, undulating parallel lines.
This sitter has been traditionally identified as a member of the famous Baring banking family. There is a miniature portrait of Thomas Baring (1772–1848) painted by George Engleheart (1752–1829) in 1803 in the museum’s collection. His brother George Baring (1781–1854) was also painted by Engleheart around 1805. The young man in this portrait by Plimer might also be one of the other three Baring brothers: Alexander, 1st Baron Ashburton (1774–1848), Henry (1776–1848), or William (1779–1820). Of the four brothers with extant portraits, the Plimer sitter bears the closest resemblance to Alexander because of his piercing, narrow eyes. Yet the c. 1810 portrait of Alexander by Thomas Lawrence is too dissimilar, having features that could not have been the product of an intervening period of only five years. Since it does not bear a striking likeness to any of these extant portraits, this miniature cannot be definitively identified as a member of the Baring family. Both of the Baring family portrait miniatures in Cleveland’s
collection were purchased by Edward Greene from the dealer Leo Schidlof on 6 August 1928, suggesting that they may have come from the same collection before entering into Schidlof’s hands. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures: The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art,1951. page number: Reproduced: no. 27, pl. XXI url: https://archive.org/details/PortraitMiniatures/page/n67 Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. page number: p. 300 url: Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. page number: Mentioned: p.83 url: Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. page number: Cat. no. 58, pp. 229231 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1153/1942.1153_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1153/1942.1153_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1153/1942.1153_full.tif