Portrait miniatures: the impact of photography

Queen Victoria's miniaturist, Sir William Charles Ross, was the last great miniature painter. His fashionably large miniatures looked like oil paintings. But this effect took painstaking work and few could afford Ross. Other top-class miniaturists were equally expensive, even Alfred Edward Chalon with his elegant, light style.

Photography, introduced in 1839, provided a wider public with affordable, accurate likenesses. Many miniaturists at the cheaper end of the market took up photography, while younger artists rarely pursued careers as miniaturists.

At the end of the century, however, there was a brief revival of interest in miniature painting with the establishment in 1896 of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters.

Click on the images below for larger versions and more information.

Sir William Charles Ross, RA

Sir William Charles Ross, RA, 1794-1860
Portrait of Magdalena Dalton, born Ross
About 1835–40
Watercolour on ivory
Museum no. 281-1875.

Magdalena Ross (born 1801) married around 1841 and by 1850 was the queen’s miniature painter. She apparently once lived with her brother, Sir William Charles Ross, and filled in the backgrounds in his large miniatures.

 

View another miniature painted by William Charles Ross on the National Gallery's website. (Link opens in a new window)

Sir William Charles Ross RA, Portrait of Mrs Bacon

Sir William Charles Ross, RA 1794-1860
Portrait of Mrs Bacon
Dated 1841
Watercolour on ivory
Inscribed by the artist on card at the back, 'Painted by Sir W.C. Ross R.A./ Miniature Painter to The Queen / 1841'
Museum no. P.68-1921
Given by Mrs B. Calmar

 

View another miniature painted by William Charles Ross on the National Gallery's website. (Link opens in a new window)

Alfred Chalon, RA

Alfred Chalon, RA 1780-1860
Portrait of Harriet de Wint, born Hilton
About 1815-20
Watercolour on ivory
Museum no. P.43-1942
Purchased with funds from the R.H. Stephenson Bequest

Harriet married the landscape artist Peter de Wint in 1810. Her husband was said to owe much of his success to her great charm.

 

 

Nellie Hepburn-Edmunds, Portrait of Eileen Marshall

Nellie Hepburn-Edmunds, About 1895 - about 1954
Portrait of Eileen Marshall
Dated 1912
Watercolour on ivory
Signed lower left 'N. H. Edmunds / 12'
Museum no. P.71-1924
Given by the Earl of Minto

Eileen Marshall was the niece of the artist. She often sat for her aunt, who was Vice President of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters. This picture of her in fancy dress was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1912.

Alexandrine McEwan, Portrait of Jean Elizabeth Adair

Alexandrine McEwan 1876-1965
Portrait of Jean Elizabeth Adair
Dated 1899
Watercolour on ivory
Signed lower right 'AM' in monogram and dated '99'
Museum no. P.45-1982 
Given by Miss J.M.M. MccGwire, the sitter's daughter

In this miniature Jean Elizabeth Adair (1889-1956) is aged about 10. She is also shown in Museum no. P.46-1987, aged about 30. 

Lucy MacDonald, Portrait of Jean Elizabeth MccGwire

Lucy MacDonald
Born 1872
Portrait of Jean Elizabeth MccGwire, born Adair
About 1919
Watercolour on ivory
Signed bottom right 'L.W. MacDonald' and inscribed on the back with details of the sitter's biography
Museum no. P.46-1987
Given by C.S. Turner

In this miniature Jean Elizabeth MccGwire (1889-1956) is aged about 30. She is also shown in Museum no. P.45-1982, aged about 10.

Edith Bertha Crapper, Portrait of Bertha Maria Crapper

Edith Bertha Crapper, 1896-1979
Portrait of Bertha Maria Crapper, Mother of the Artist
Dated 1944-5
Watercolour on ivory
Inscribed around the head in Latin 'Bertha Maria /Crapper Aged 70' and on the back of the ivory 'B.M.C./1855-1943 /By /Edith Bertha Crapper 1944-5'. On the paper behind the ivory 'I, Edith Bertha Crapper painted this portrait after my Mother's death - partly from a passport photograph and partly from what I remembered of her.'
Museum no. P.16-1979
Bequeathed by Miss E.B. Crapper

Bertha Crapper (1855-1943) was the wife of Thomas Crapper, the famous Victorian sanitary engineer. Their daughter, Edith Bertha, worked as a miniaturist from 1916 to 1939 and was a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters.