The present lot forms part of a small group of self-portraits by Smart. Daphne Foskett identified nine of these portraits in her 1964 publication John Smart. The Man and his Miniatures – the majority being finished portrait miniatures on ivory. For more information about Smart’s self-portraits, see A. Marquis ‘Intimate Objects. British Portraits from Smart to Spencer in the Fitzwilliam Museum’ (online article, n.d.).