Lunchtime Lecture: A Series of Small Revolutions: Women Artists and the Portrait Miniature

The V&A is home to the national collection of portrait miniatures: small, hand-held watercolour portraits painted on vellum or ivory that could be gifted, exchanged, worn as jewellery, and carried on the body. Part of this collection are more than 200 portrait miniatures by over 70 female miniature painters, spanning from the sixteenth to the twentieth century and across Europe, Asia, America, and the Caribbean. Join Damiët Schneeweisz who will discuss the development of this genre of painting alongside ongoing work on the V&A’s collection. The lecture will highlight the revolutionary lives and work of artists like Anne Mee, Diana Hill, and Charlotte Martner.

Damiët Schneeweisz is an art historian specialised in colonial and European visual culture with a focus on portraiture, gender, and the Caribbean. Her PhD at The Courtauld traces the history of the portrait miniature in the Atlantic basin during the long eighteenth century. As part of her doctoral placement at the V&A, Damiët is working on women artists in the museum’s collection of paintings and drawings. Her work has been supported by institutions including the Rijksmuseum, the Yale Center for British Art, the Paul Mellon Centre, and the Decorative Arts Trust.