Miniature Painting thumbnail 1
Miniature Painting thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case RMC, Shelf 5, Box 5

Miniature Painting

ca. 1620-1640 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The word ‘miniature’ describes a technique of painting in watercolour rather than the size of a painting. Miniature painting developed as a separate art in the 16th century and in Britain it became predominantly a portrait art. In Continental Europe, however, the miniature technique was used not only for portraits but also for small delicate genre scenes, reflecting the roots of miniature painting in the art of the illuminated manuscript.

Miniature painting was also a less specialist art on the Continent and was practised by artists who worked as oil painters, such as Lucas Van Valkenborgh (ca.1535-1597), or as engravers, such as Johan Wilhelm Baur (1600 or 1610-1642). This miniature is by Baur, who was born in Strasburg, baptised on 31 May 1607, and buried in Vienna, January 1642. A German etcher and painter, active in Italy and Austria, his outstanding miniatures and etchings were long influential in Germany and Austria. His father and grandfather were respected goldsmiths, but it was in the Strasburg workshop of Friedrich Brentel I that he learned drawing, etching and painting on vellum.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum
Brief description
Johann Wilhelm Baur. One of two depictions of ports with shipping, on vellum, 1620-40.
Physical description
A port with ships
Dimensions
  • Height: 63mm
  • Width: 132mm
Credit line
Murray Bequest
Summary
The word ‘miniature’ describes a technique of painting in watercolour rather than the size of a painting. Miniature painting developed as a separate art in the 16th century and in Britain it became predominantly a portrait art. In Continental Europe, however, the miniature technique was used not only for portraits but also for small delicate genre scenes, reflecting the roots of miniature painting in the art of the illuminated manuscript.

Miniature painting was also a less specialist art on the Continent and was practised by artists who worked as oil painters, such as Lucas Van Valkenborgh (ca.1535-1597), or as engravers, such as Johan Wilhelm Baur (1600 or 1610-1642). This miniature is by Baur, who was born in Strasburg, baptised on 31 May 1607, and buried in Vienna, January 1642. A German etcher and painter, active in Italy and Austria, his outstanding miniatures and etchings were long influential in Germany and Austria. His father and grandfather were respected goldsmiths, but it was in the Strasburg workshop of Friedrich Brentel I that he learned drawing, etching and painting on vellum.
Collection
Accession number
P.39-1910

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Record createdJuly 14, 2003
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