THE SMALLEST paintings are set to be a big draw at Compton Verney art gallery
For centuries, miniature paintings served a multitude of purposes, from sentimental keepsakes and gifts from powerful benefactors, to forming part of the European aristocracy’s marriage market and playing an intimate role in private and ritual mourning.
Small portraits they may have been, but for the people who commissioned and received them, they held huge significance, as a new exhibition at Compton Verney reveals.
Co-curated with portrait miniatures specialist Emma Rutherford, The Reflected Self will present the history of this intricate art form.
It will draw primarily on Compton Verney’s Grantchester Miniatures collection, along with highlights from the Dumas Egerton Trust collection of over 800 miniatures and star loans from individual collectors. This exhibition will provide visitors with a rare opportunity to view objects by the leading miniature painters to have worked in Britain, from Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver to Samuel Cooper.
The tools of the miniaturist’s trade will also be introduced as part of the show, revealing the highly specialised techniques and materials that the artists used. These ranged from animals’ teeth to clam shells, to hold paints and pigments.
Miniatures also provide unique records of changing fashions across several centuries, from the elaborate lace ruffs of the late Elizabethan period to the colourful powdered wigs of the Georgian era.
The Reflected Self will use items of costume, and specially commissioned films to demonstrate how miniatures would have been worn and viewed and how they continue to influence fashion today.
The objects on display invite comparisons with today’s selfie culture and how we present ourselves on social media.
Compton Verney senior curator Oli McCall said: “This hugely ambitious exhibition is the first in recent years to examine the functions of portrait miniatures in Britain from the rarefied world of the Tudor and Jacobean royal courts to the dawn of photography in the Victorian era.
“Visitors will encounter miniatures from Compton Verney’s collection for the first time, alongside outstanding examples from private collections, highlighting the extraordinary skill of the leading miniaturists to have worked in Britain.”
The Reflected Self: Portrait Miniatures 1540-1850 runs from September 21 to February 23.
