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Portrait of Henry Kirke White (1785-1806)

Portrait Miniature
ca. 1805 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In the late 18th century a new sister art and rival to miniature portraits appeared. Since about 1700 miniaturists had worked on ivory, and before that on vellum (animal skin). Up to the late 18th century, watercolour was used mainly by topographic artists, who applied it on paper to tint their drawings. But as watercolour painting developed as an art in its own right, miniaturists saw that working on paper was easier, and so quicker and cheaper. They could thus attract new patrons. Many now widened their repertoire and developed types of watercolour portraits on paper or card. They produced elegant graphite drawings, either tinted lightly with a watercolour wash or with the sitter's head painted minutely in watercolour. Some, as with this portrait, completed the whole work in watercolour. One problem with paper is that it can quickly discolour and degrade, unlike the more expensive vellum or ivory. This can be seen in the unpainted background of this miniature, which is a pale brown colour, instead of crisp white.

This portrait also borrows from another fashionable rival to miniature painting, the profile. Silhouettes, or ‘profiles’ as they were known then, became popular in the 1770s, when the archaeological discoveries of Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii encouraged a taste for Neo-classicism. ‘Profiles’ became even more fashionable after about 1775, when Johann Kaspar Lavater published his hugely popular Essays on Physiognomy. He claimed that one could detect a person’s character by concentrating on his or her main features. These would reveal both virtues and vices. Lavater illustrated the book with numerous simple black profiles.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePortrait of Henry Kirke White (1785-1806) (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on paper
Brief description
Anonymous portrait miniature, watercolour on paper, depicting Henry Kirke White (1785-1806), in profile. English, ca. 1805.
Physical description
Portrait miniature, watercolour on paper, depicting Henry Kirke White
Dimensions
  • Height: 73mm
  • Width: 59mm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Alfred Winter
Subjects depicted
Summary
In the late 18th century a new sister art and rival to miniature portraits appeared. Since about 1700 miniaturists had worked on ivory, and before that on vellum (animal skin). Up to the late 18th century, watercolour was used mainly by topographic artists, who applied it on paper to tint their drawings. But as watercolour painting developed as an art in its own right, miniaturists saw that working on paper was easier, and so quicker and cheaper. They could thus attract new patrons. Many now widened their repertoire and developed types of watercolour portraits on paper or card. They produced elegant graphite drawings, either tinted lightly with a watercolour wash or with the sitter's head painted minutely in watercolour. Some, as with this portrait, completed the whole work in watercolour. One problem with paper is that it can quickly discolour and degrade, unlike the more expensive vellum or ivory. This can be seen in the unpainted background of this miniature, which is a pale brown colour, instead of crisp white.

This portrait also borrows from another fashionable rival to miniature painting, the profile. Silhouettes, or ‘profiles’ as they were known then, became popular in the 1770s, when the archaeological discoveries of Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii encouraged a taste for Neo-classicism. ‘Profiles’ became even more fashionable after about 1775, when Johann Kaspar Lavater published his hugely popular Essays on Physiognomy. He claimed that one could detect a person’s character by concentrating on his or her main features. These would reveal both virtues and vices. Lavater illustrated the book with numerous simple black profiles.
Bibliographic reference
Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1928. London: HMSO, 1929
Collection
Accession number
P.64-1928

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Record createdJuly 11, 2003
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