European Portrait Miniatures - Conference in Celle

The Fifth Exhibition of the Tansey Collection was opened on 25th
January 2013 in Celle, Germany at the wonderful Bomann Museum. 

Bomann Museum

At the
same time, an International Conference was held at the nearby Celle
Castle Residence Museum, open to all, free of charge, through the
generosity of Mrs. and Mrs. Tansey. 

Celle Castle

The couple live in Celle, Mrs.
Tansey's home town, although her husband is American.  They have been
collecting miniatures for over 30 years.  In 1997 they created a
Foundation to preserve their collection and make it available for
anyone to see, either physically at the Bomann Museum or online in
English at www.miniaturen-tansey.de/en.

Mr And Mrs Tansey (on the left) attending the conference

Celle is an ancient town in Lower Saxony, filled with timber framed
houses and dominated by the grand Celle Castle.  It has a population
of about 71,000.  The romantic setting of the castle, almost
surrounded by water, was frozen and children were skating on the ice.

With freezing temperatures of -11C and below in Celle itself, Europe
was gripped in an icy hand and participants swapped horror stories of
delayed travel, with one of the speakers stuck for two hours on the
runway, whilst the wings of the aeroplane were de-iced manually by a
man with a scraper on the equivalent of a hydraulic stepladder!  He
arrived in the early hours of the morning.

The Conference was packed with miniature enthusiasts, curators,
conservators, art historians and other specialists and the atmosphere
was very exciting, as participants were able to hear presentations
from some of the most knowledgeable experts in the world and see
images of collections not readily available to the public.  It was
also an occasion to meet and talk to others with a shared interest in
miniatures during the many opportunities during the two days of the
Conference.  The event was brilliantly organized by the well known art
historian/conservator/author Bernd Pappe, Juliane Schmieglitz-Otten,
Head of the Residence Museum at Celle Caste, and Dr. Gerrit Walczak,
Art Historian, Berlin.  Bernd and Juliane wrote the beautiful
catalogue 'Miniatures from the Time of Marie Antoinette in the Tansey
Collection' to accompany the Fifth Exhibition,  which helpfully
includes an English translation.
This book can be ordered online from the Tansey website or from Amazon
and is also available from large bookstores.

The papers from the Conference will be published later this year and
will be available to purchase.

AN UNUSUAL LATER MINIATURE

If you happen to come across a miniature by Miss Lewis, we suggest you 'snap it up'.  Not only will it be very finely painted, but Miss Lewis herself had a spectacular career - as an actress!  Born as Mabel Gwynedd Lewis in 1872, she was born into a wealthy and talented family.  Her father, Arthur James Lewis, was a painter, illustrator and musician.  Her mother was an actress, Kate Terry, a niece of the famous Ellen Terry and her siblings, all actors.  Mabel's sister, Kate Terry Lewis (1868-1958) was the mother of John Gielgud.  

Portrait of a striking looking Gentleman by Miss Mabel Terry Lewis (1872-1957).  Signed and dated 1896

Mabel Terry Lewis appeared in many stage plays. Her London stage debut was in 'A Pair of Spectacles' at the Garrick Theatre in 1889, in which she played Lucy Lorimer.  For twenty or so years she had a film career, appearing in Love Maggy in 1921, The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1934, Jamaica Inn in 1939 and They Came to a City in 1945.  She married Captain Ralph Batley.  

ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF ROYAL MINIATURE SOCIETY

The Annual Exhibition of The Royal Miniature Society (RMS) opened today at The Mall Gallery with a vast array of miniature paintings, larger works, boxes and sculptures and greeting cards, many for sale at bargain prices!  Visitors came to snap up some early Christmas presents and buy some of the exclusive cards.  And to add to the interest and excitement a special exhibition of miniatures painted during The War Years is also on show for the duration of the main Exhibition, with a catalogue available at £3.50.

  Amongst the represented artists winning Awards was top portrait artist and President of the Society, Elizabeth Meek, who was the first to receive The Prince of Wales Award for Outstanding Miniature Painting.

The exhibition at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, near Trafalgar Square, is open every day from 10.00a.m.5.00p.m. until 28th October 2012, closing at 1.00p.m. on the final day.

Accessories for the miniature collector

For frequent visitors to this site, you will know that we don't advertise anything for sale, other than books about miniatures and conservation and other services to collectors.  One particular problem for collectors is trying to obtain bespoke frames, which can be tricky and most of us resort to buying damaged/poor quality/ugly sitter miniatures to strip them of their fine contemporary frames from time to time.

For later miniatures, however, there are two firms that do an admirable job of supplying brass, gold plated and wooden frames and a few accessories.  The British firm's website is www.polymersplus.co.uk and the US firm's website is www.miniartsupplies.biz.  Both of these are worth checking out because of their different sizes and between the two, most sizes can be accommodated.  The former also has a bespoke service for brass frames.

For the 'missing pin' problem, we buy Pony Sequin and Bead Pins no.25202.  Not only are they satisfyingly cheap, but there are enough pins in the pack to last most collectors a lifetime!  Another issue is often the missing hanging ring, where we suspect that such is the rarity value of these rings, that they are deliberately removed!  Now that we are prepared to tell you our secret, the rarity value will be no more!  Ebay sellers galore sell these rings in all sizes and finishes - brass, gold plated, silver coloured - a search engine will reveal plenty of choice for 'Gold colour split rings'.  Mostly sold in packs of 100 or more, they are ridiculously inexpensive. 

The 'eyes' have it (or not)

Have you ever hoped to confirm the identity of a sitter only to hear

an expert say, 'it is not this person because the eye colour is wrong'?

Did Georgian and Regency miniature painters really alter eye colour on a whim?  Although inconclusive in 'proving' the practice was widespread, these two images of obviously the same sitter, both signed by the same artist, do show that the eye colour 'myth' is no chestnut!

Both miniatures are signed and dated 1815

This example suggests that the above statement on identification 

may not be taken as absolute fact and perhaps facial features

  are more relevant in identification than colour of the eyes.

A Collection with a Difference

We have featured some of Stefanie's Collection before and she has been kind enough to allow us to share images of some of her new arrivals.  Stefanie is a fearless and passionate collector and she is not fazed by cracks or faults, unsigned miniatures, unknown artists or strange looking sitters, unlike some of the more 'purist' among us!

A Swiss Lady

The result is a quirky, eclectic and fascinating collection, which is just as the collector intended.  

Stefanie's meticulous research uncovered the story behind this miniature, and led her to a fascinating conclusion.  The sitter is Marie Cecile Henriette Machelard, who was born in 1759 in Paris.  She was the 'milk' sister of Princess Clotilde, the sister in law of Marie Antoinette.  Marie Machelard's mother nursed her daughter and Princess Clotilde together and received a pension for doing so.

Stefanie believes that the hair around the portrait is that of Princess Clotilde!

A Spanish family

Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill (1730-1805) by Richard Crosse

Dame Jane Wilson (1749-1818), widow of Gen. Sir Thomas Wilson, 6th Baronet

Miss A. B. Patterson by Mrs. Margaret Butterworth
(our Dictionary of Miniature Painters 1870-1970 lists this artist as working from 8 Wilton Place, Belgrave Square, London and exhibiting at the Royal Academy and Royal Miniature Society between 1894-1915). Stafanie was fascinated by the windmills in the background!

The progression of William Naish's talent (1767-1800)

William Naish, one of three artist brothers, was lauded by his contemporaries after his early death for his talent. On the basis of much of this artist's work, this admiration may seem overly generous.  However, after a close study of his different styles, there appears to be more to this artist 'than meets the eye'!

A signed miniature by William Naish dated 1787. Painted when he was only 19 or 20 and a student at the Royal Academy, if it weren't for the distinctive signature, one could hardly equate the glumly staring portrait with the quality of the artist's work in the last few years of his life

Copyright V & A Museum London

Close up of signed portrait

Copyright V & A Museum London

A signed example a decade later showing the advance in his talent

A 'typical' male portrait from Naish's last decade

Copyright V & A Museum London

Close up showing his technique and also the 'giveaway' hallmarks of his work, discussed in detail in a previous article. Namely, the small 'dug out' circle in the corner of the eye, the chiselled delineation around the nostrils, the block of light from nose to upper lip and the circle of light on the chin

Copyright V & A Museum London

William Naish's almost unrecognisable best later work.  Instead of the enlarged eyes of the previous portrait, he uses a rather narrow eyed look and intense deep colours for the portrait and background.  When rare examples of Naish's best work appear at auction, they are usually heavily contested. Whether he deliberately  'pulled out the stops' to paint these superb miniatures when asked or paid to do so, or whether they were just a product of a 'good day',  is not known.  However, clearly something miraculous happened between his lumbering first attempts to paint a miniature and his last known works which stand up to comparison with other great artists of that era.  We find it sad that he died at such a young age, just when his talents were in full flower.  It could be conjectured that he was a depressive personality, judging from the haunted look of his self portrait, which was sold at Christies South Kensington about fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, we do not have a fine enough image to show it here.