Sir Henry Blount (1602–1682)

Little is known about Nicholas Dixon before 1673 when he succeeded Samuel Cooper (1608?–1672) as limner to Charles II (1630–1685). He was also appointed keeper of the King's Picture Closet. The 1670s were his best years as a portraitist; later he was much occupied with limned copies of old master paintings. In 1698 he offered a large collection of such copies in a lottery, but this was not a successful venture. He died in poverty.

The inscription on the back of the frame (William Russell / First Duke of Bedford) is incorrect. The identification of the sitter as Sir Henry Blount was established from a virtually identical miniature traditionally described as depicting Blount, and from a plumbago portrait of Blount by David Loggan (1634–1692), signed and dated 1679, sold at Christie's, London, July 10, 1990, no. 9, ill. The Loggan work is a later portrait, whereas this miniature may be dated in the 1660s.

The other version of this work was included in the "Exposition de la miniature" in Brussels in 1912, no. 44, pl. XI, lent by the Earl Beauchamp, Madresfield Court, Madresfield, Worcestershire. It later belonged to Greta S. Heckett, Pittsburgh, and was sold with her collection at Sotheby's, London, April 24, 1978, no. 501, ill.

Sir Henry Blount traveled extensively in Europe and the Levant. Voyage to the Levant, his account of an eleven-month journey of six thousand miles, went through eight editions in English between 1636 and 1671. Sir Henry was knighted in 1640 and sided with the Royalists in the Civil War.

[2015; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed (left, in gold): ND [monogram]

Mary Clark Thompson, New York and Canandaigua, N.Y. (until d. 1923)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 31.

The Heckett Collection of Miniatures Part IV. Sotheby's, London. April 24, 1978, p. 25, under no. 501, in the entry for the ex-Beauchamp version, mistakenly identifies the MMA miniature as the work exhibited at the Brussels Exhibition in 1912 [see Notes].

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 10, 84, no. 31, ill. p. 85, date it to the 1660s; reject the identification of the sitter as William Russell, Duke of Bedford, engraved on the back of the frame; state that his identity as Sir Henry Blount is confirmed by the ex-Beauchamp miniature [see Notes] and by a miniature of Blount by David Loggan sold at Christie's, London, July 10, 1990, no. 9.