ANTIQUE COLLECTING
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Extract from the June 2008 Magazine
June 2008 Magazine Pages 4-5 PORTRAIT MINIATURES

by Richard Chadwick
It will perhaps surprise many people that there is still an area of fine art where, without any exaggeration, some of the greatest works by some of the best artists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are still available to collectors and where significant discoveries can still be made. The present favourable market conditions and availability of portrait miniatures provides the opportunity for great collections to be formed, even in the 21st century.
The last heyday of portrait miniature collecting was the 1960s and 1970s, a time when most of the best reference books on the subject were written, particularly by Daphne Foskett who probably did more than anybody to popularise the subject in the 20th century. Since then, portrait miniatures have gradually faded from the general consciousness until in very recent years there has been something of an upturn in the market. This trend is likely to continue as the realisation that the field represents something of an unmined seam of riches is recognised and objects to satisfy even the most discerning of connoisseurs and academic of historians are rediscovered.

June 2008 Magazine Page 9Figure 10. George Engleheart (1750/3-1829), Boy in a Blue Coat, c.1790. 57mm high.

Portrait miniatures are also, of course, extremely beautiful and can be collected with many different aims in mind. Miniatures with historic associations abound and the subjects of miniatures encompass almost every area of life: royalty, politics, the theatre, the military, children, beautiful women and handsome men.
Collections can be devoted to particular artists, media (vellum, ivory, enamel) or periods.
There are very few objects that connect us so directly with our past than portrait miniatures. In a sense they are the closest thing we have to time-travellers because these are pictures that were usually commissioned directly by the sitter, to be kept and treasured or given as special and often secret gifts to lovers and family members. A miniature is often a far more accurate and certainly a more intimate likeness of the person themself than full-scale portraits which often say more about the artist than his subject. Miniatures are all about the sitter and the best miniaturists were particularly adept at somehow capturing the character of their sitters, so much so that they can be uncannily life-like and so give some hint of the personality within.
It was very fashionable to have one's miniature painted by the best miniaturist of the day and in the case of Samuel Cooper in the 17th century, for instance, there was a 'waiting list' of clients requiring their portrait to be painted and at considerable cost too. Up until the later 18th century, portrait miniatures were almost exclusively the preserve of the very cream of society, royalty, the aristocracy and the very rich. From today's perspective this makes them even more attractive to own because the miniature was a very personal possession and therefore gives us as close a contact with great figures from history as it is possible to get. For instance, a particularly thrilling thought is that the miniature shown in figure 1 would almost certainly have been painted for Charles I and given as a direct gift from him. In fact, almost all period portrait miniatures of royalty and other famous historic figures would have been either owned by those persons depicted or at the very least directly commissioned by them to present as gifts.