Art Exhibition: Small Worlds: European Portrait Miniatures

Art, Art Museum, School of the Arts

Date(s):
Starts on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 1:00 am
Ends on Saturday, June 9, 2012 at 1:00 am

Location:
University Art Museum, University Center for the Arts, 1400 Remington Street

Price:
FREE

Andrew Plimer, "Portrait of Miss Lockwood," 1788, watercolor on ivory, Courtesy Hartford/Tandstad Collection

Richard Cosway, "Portrait of Lady Augusta Murray," 18th century, watercolor on ivory, Courtesy Hartford/Tandstad Collection

The genre of the miniature portrait thrived in England and continental Europe from its birth in the 16th century through the mid-19th century, when the advent of photography led to its demise. Today the word miniature is commonly understood as something that is exceptionally small, but the word originally meant the art of painting images in books with water-soluble pigment. The word miniature derives from minium¸ a red pigment used in manuscript illumination. In the 16th century a specialized group of painters developed the art of the portrait miniature. Their sources were the small scale paintings found in manuscripts and the tradition of antique portrait medallions revived in the Renaissance. Typically created in an oval or round format on a vellum or ivory support, the portrait miniature became widely popular. Originally utilized by the English monarchy as a means of bestowing favor upon a subject, the portrait miniature’s uses blossomed. Worn as a sign of loyalty, as jewelry, or carried privately like a snapshot of a friend or lover, these exquisitely detailed images continue to fascinate today.

Museum Hours: Tues. – Sat., 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Closed on University Holidays.

The exhibitions and programs at the University Art Museum are sponsored, in part, by the FUNd Endowment at Colorado State, the City of Fort Collins’ Fort Fund, the Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Fund and Colorado Humanities.