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Captain Smart
unknown - Enlarge image
Captain Smart
- Object:
Painting
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, United Kingdom (made)
- Date:
1639 (dated)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
- Museum number:
534-1892
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56e, case 9
Object Type
Oil-painted portraits of noble or wealthy men and women became increasingly common in the 17th century, as Britain became more prosperous through trade and many more citizens were granted titles by the King. The pictures nearly always show the sitters splendidly dressed in the height of expensive fashion, in order to emphasise their new wealth, status or nobility.
People
Very little is known of the sitter, but it seems that the traditional title `Captain Smart' is correct. The arms and crest are those of the Smart family, and the sitter might be Rowland Smart, Swordbearer to the Lord Mayor of London in the 1640s.
Subjects Depicted
Wealthy men and women sometimes spent enormous sums of money on their dress, even if they were mere citizens and not ennobled. In a portrait, the depiction of the clothing was as important as the features of the sitter himself. Here, silver-gilt thread decorates Captain Smart's gloves, his sword belt, his sash and his buttons, and is even woven into the fabric of his doublet. Because of the splendid depiction of these clothes, the portrait was acquired by the Museum in 1892 as an `illustration of costume'. It remained in the Textiles Department until 1935 (rather than the Paintings Department,) as a record of 17th-century dress.
