Miniatures created using Watercolour on Ivory

Watercolour, Ivory, portrait miniatures

  • Rosalba Giovanna Carriera, portrait of Robert Baron Walpole



    Rosalba Giovanna Carriera (1675-1757)
    Portrait of Robert, Baron Walpole
    About 1720
    Watercolour on ivory
    Inscribed on the wooden backboard by the sitter's brother, Horace Walpole, 'Robert, Lord Walpole / Eldest Son to Sir Robert Walpole / Earl of Orford / Drawn by Rosalba / at Venice / H.W.
    Museum no. P.160-1910
    Salting Bequest

    The renowned Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera started out decorating ivory snuffboxes. Around 1700 she perfected a new method of painting miniatures on ivory. She used similar techniques to working on vellum, but painted the facial features onto bare ivory rather than onto flesh-coloured paint.

  • Jeremiah Meyer, portrait of an unknown woman



    Jeremiah Meyer, RA (1735-1789)
    Portrait of an unknown woman
    About 1780-90
    Watercolour on ivory
    Museum no. P.77-1910
    Salting Bequest

    Between the 1720s and the 1760s miniaturists found better ways of using watercolour on ivory. Jeremiah Meyer was the first to exploit fully these improvements. In this unfinished miniature we see his skill in using the brush to paint the long unbroken lines in her hair and costume.

  • Anonymous British Artist, portrait of an unknown man



    Anonymous British Artist
    Portrait of an unknown man
    About 1910
    Photograph processed on ivorine, hand-painted with watercolour
    Museum no. E.336-1995

    This 'miniature' was made using a combination of photographic and miniature painting techniques. Ivory, or in this case a plastic substitute called ivorine, was coated with photographic emulsion and a faint likeness taken. The image was then lightly painted with watercolour and framed like a miniature.

Tags: