Room 90a: Portrait Miniatures
The International Music and Art Foundation Gallery displays Miniature painting, a unique art form, with artists suc…
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The origin of the portrait miniature
Miniatures were first painted to decorate and illustrate hand-written books. Indeed, the word 'miniature' comes fro…
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Portrait miniatures: painting on ivory
The first British artist to paint on ivory was Bernard Lens, in about 1707. At the same time that ivory replaced ve…
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Portrait miniatures and the Royal Academy
In 1768 a group of London-based artists established the Royal Academy of Arts. At the Academy 's annual exhibitions…
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Portrait miniatures: the impact of photography
Photography, introduced in 1839, provided a wider public with affordable, accurate likenesses. Many miniaturists at…
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Portrait miniatures: royal portraiture
Miniatures were particularly useful to the monarchy. They were small enough to be given personally, sometimes in a …
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Portrait miniatures: India
In 1785 the miniaturists John Smart, Ozias Humphry and Diana Hill independently made the six-month voyage by boat t…
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Portrait miniatures: other types of miniature
This section looks at four other small portrait types which competed successfully with the portrait miniature; so-c…
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Portrait miniatures: materials & techniques
The first portrait miniatures were painted by artists trained to illustrate hand-written books. They used similar m…
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Portrait miniatures: settings & uses
No gold or jewelled lockets from Henry VIII's day survive and very few from Elizabeth I's. We have descriptions of …
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Portrait miniatures: Common susceptibilities
Eighteenth and nineteenth century miniatures are usually painted in watercolour on ivory. Ivory is susceptible to c…
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Miniature libraries from the Children's Books Collections
John Marshall began publishing miniature libraries for children in 1800. Confident, perhaps, that his innovation would galvanise the children's book market, he produced his first three libraries 'almost simultaneously'. His remarkable success prompted imitations from the most prominent names in children's publishing in the early years of the 19th century.
Miniature libraries reading list
Reading list about Miniature libraries from the Children's Books Collections
Subjects for sculpture: portrait busts
Funerary monuments and portrait busts were the most common ways in which people were commemorated in sculpture. Sometimes the two were combined: a bust was placed on a funerary monument, or a copy of a bust on a church monument was displayed in the family house.
The Conservation of the Portrait Bust of Giovanni de'Medici (later Pope Leo X)
The Cardinal Giovanni de'Medici bust is a rare example of a Renaissance terracotta portrait bust which has retained its original paint, as many were stripped during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Ivories 1600-1800: Portraits
Portraits in ivory were fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries. Generally elephant or walrus ivory was used. Since the pieces were limited in size the portraits tended to be small, yet they could still be monumental in form.
Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton
8 February – 22 April 2012
Featuring portraits of Queen Elizabeth II by royal photographer Cecil Beaton, this exhibition celebrates Her Majesty in her roles as princess, monarch and mother and coincides with the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
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The Portrait Miniature in England
A fascinating account of the development of English miniature painting featuring masterpieces from the V&A's collection.
Buy nowEvent - Create! Portrait Photography
Sat 14 January 2012–Sat 10 March 2012
YOUNG PEOPLE’S EVENT: Develop your digital photography skills, with a professional portrait photographer. Find out how to set up lighting for shoots. Discover how to take photos to capture the character of a person.
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