PAINTINGS & DRAWINGS

British Portrait Miniatures

Hans Holbein, Portrait of Jane Small, born Pemberton, About 1540, Museum no.P.40-1935

These pages developed to complement the Miniatures Gallery tell the story of the portrait miniature in Britain, from its first appearance in the 1520s, at the court of Henry VIII, to the height of its popularity in the early 19th century.

Today the word 'miniature' means something small, but originally it described a painting in watercolour on a fine animal skin called vellum. This was the technique used to illustrate hand-written books, from which the portrait miniature developed.

The portrait miniature soon became a British speciality. In his treatise of around 1600, the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard proudly described his art as 'a thing apart...which excelleth all other painting'.