{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O17795"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17795/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP9973/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP9973/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP9973","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6006","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O17795/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O17795","accessionNumber":"P.20-1978","objectType":"Portrait Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Miss Harriet and Miss Elizabeth Binney","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This large portrait miniature on card by John Smart depicts Harriet and Elizabeth Binney seated at a pianoforte. On the pianoforte sits a copy of Henry Mathias' <i>Rondo alla Tedesca</i>, while Elizabeth Binney holds a copy of Joseph Woelfl's <i>Grand Sonata for the Piano Forte </i>op. 36 in her hands. Elizabeth was probably one of Woelfl's students in London, and he dedicated his <i>Non plus ultra, </i>op. 41 to 'Miss E. Binny.' Such details are emblematic of Smart's remarkable attention to detail. 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.","physicalDescription":"Portrait miniature of two sisters seated at a pianoforte and facing the viewer.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Smart, John","id":"A2394"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"water-colour","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on card","categories":[{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Colonialism and Empire","id":"THES253004"},{"text":"Music","id":"THES253065"}],"styles":[{"text":"Georgian","id":"AAT21048"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AP9973","2021NB6006"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"99","box":"R"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature (painting)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1806","earliest":"1806-01-01","latest":"1806-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Miss Joan Gwladis Trevor, a descendant of Harriet Binney","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"225","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"24.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"245","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait Miniature of Harriet and Elizabeth Binney seated at a pianoforte, by John Smart, watercolour on card, 1806.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum.</i>London: V&A, 1985, p.96"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM record id 9852), https://db.ridim.org/display.php?ridim_id=9852."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <u>The Portrait Miniature in England</u>, V&A Publications, 1998, pp.87-92."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <i>Finney, Samuel (1719-1798)</i>', <u>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</u>, Oxford University Press, 2004."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History</i>. London: Thames & Hudson  and the V&A, 2026."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Sebastian Biesold, 'Musical Treasures on an Early Nineteenth-Century Watercolour Painting – Identified as Henry Mathias's Rondo alla Tedesca and Joseph Woelfl's Grand Sonata op. 36', Joseph-Woelfl-Almanach 2020/2021, 2024, pp. 73–78."},{"reference":{"text":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History</i>. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026.","id":"AUTH411474"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Binney,Harriet","id":"N851"},{"text":"Binney, Elizabeth","id":"N957"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"pianos","id":"AAT42909"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.20-1978"],"accessionNumberNum":"20","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1978,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-19","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}