
Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale
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Sold for £6,875 inc. premium
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Head of Sale
Provenance
The sitter, Constantine Phipps, and thence by descent to the present owner
This miniature is believed to have been painted in 1771, the date of Constantine Phipps's marriage to Elizabeth Tierney. Phipps was the second son of Constantine Phipps the Elder, a landowner. In 1788 he moved his family to Caen, Normandy, hoping to educate his ten (eventually thirteen) children more economically. Phipps and his wife returned to England in 1792 to attend their daughter's wedding. The escalating conflict between France and England prevented Phipps from returning to France where he had left eight children behind.
A further fine early portrait miniature of Phipps by Smart, dated 1770 and measuring 4.6 x 4.1 cm., is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio.
Please note that the present lot is signed with monogram 'S' and indistinctly dated (to the left of the sitter's shoulder)