Miss Harriet and Miss Elizabeth Binney
Smart, John (1741-1811)
- Victoria and Albert Museum
[Museum inv. no.: P.20-1978]
Item location
Description
From the V&A Museum: This large portrait miniature on card by John Smart depicts Harriet and Elizabeth Binney seated at a harpsichord. The music sheet in front of the sisters has recently been identified as Henry Mathias' Rondo alla Tedesca, while Elizabeth Binney holds a copy of Woelfl's Grand Sonata for the Piano Forte op. 36 in her hand. Elizabeth was one of Woelfl's students in London, and the composer dedicated one of his sonatas (Non plus ultra, op. 41) to 'Miss E. Binny.' Such details are emblematic of Smart's remarkable attention to detail and his deft brushwork on a minute scale. John Smart was based in Madras for the decade he was working in India, and although he left India in 1795, his connection with the Binney family was clearly resumed in London, where this double portrait was painted. Charles Binney had been Secretary to an Indian ruler who lived near Madras. Harriet and Elizabeth were Binney’s daughters. Harriet (on the left) married Andrew Trevor in 1797, surgeon to the 33rd Regiment of Foot, the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. (Andrew Trevor was an ancestor of Miss Joan Gwladis Trevor, who gave this watercolour to the V&A.) In the 1780s Smart began to paint small oval watercolour portraits on paper, offering clients a quicker and cheaper alternative to his miniatures on ivory. This double portrait is a superb elaboration of this style of work, which would have been very laborious for Smart to have painted on ivory. However, the disadvantage of paper is its tendency to discolour with age, which is what gives this picture its slight brown tinge.People as subjects
Binney, Elizabeth (early 19th century) (Musician portrait)Binney, Harriet (early 19th century)
Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)
Pianoforte [2299] (“To judge by surviving English instruments of around 1807, the one in the portrait looks very much like a Broadwood fortepiano (neither a harpsichord, as the V&A description gives, nor a square piano, as some secondary descriptions suggest).” -- Leanne Langley, historian of British musical culture (2024))Musical works
Mathias, Henry -- Rondo alla Tedescalegible music notationNear-exact reproduction of p. 3 of printed edition (London: for the author by Preston, [1806]). See first RISM link below.
Woelfl, Joseph -- Grand sonata, op. 36legible music notation
'Weolfl [sic] op. 36’ on depicted page of music held by Elizabeth in her hand (the snippet of music notation is not identifiable). See second RISM link below.
RISM link 1
RISM link 2
RIdIM images
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London