Augustinermuseum
The Augustiner Museum's portrait miniature collection comprises a good 100 works from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century. It offers a comprehensive overview of the great wealth of materials and techniques used in this kind of small-scale art. Closely related to the large-format portrait, the portrait miniature takes on a role of its own due to its intended use. Initially commissioned by the nobility as a personal memento of loved ones, as a medium of courtship or as a representative gift with a personal touch, during the late eighteenth century, the middle classes also began to appear as the target customers. Influential schools with different styles in England and France launched the spread of the portrait miniature throughout Europe. Production ended abruptly after three centuries due to the invention of photography.
In Pairs
Lovers often had their portraits painted in miniature on separate canvasses. They are usually depicted in the gesture of turning towards one another. A common tonal palette also connects the sitters, traversing the borders of the portraits. A joint frame also featured as a unifying element.
Renowned miniature painters, such as Moritz Michael Daffinger (1790-1849), who worked in Vienna, were often commissioned to produce the portraits. In the Baden region, Wendelin Moosbrugger (1760-1849), court painter under King Frederick I of Württemberg, was a much sought-after portraitist of the aspiring middle classes.
Wendelin Moosbrugger painted Ignaz (1775-1818) and Eva Eleonore Hüetlin (1779-1802) around 1802. Ignaz was the son of the well-known Mayor of Constance, Karl Hüetlin. His wife Eva Eleonore died during her first confinement at the age of twenty-three and is depicted here holding her infant.
Variety
A wide variety of materials and techniques are represented in the Augustiner Museum's portrait miniature collection: ivory, porcelain, paper, parchment, canvas, wood, copper, oil paint, gouache, watercolour, pencil, silverpoint all the way to reverse glass painting. Copper as a ground was used exclusively for miniatures, especially in the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At the end of the seventeenth century, artists in France experimented with ivory. Because of its animated effects, especially for the depiction of flesh tones, this ground was popular, highly appreciated and thus spread throughout Europe. In the Biedermeier era, the preferred ground for portraitists was porcelain.
The technique of reverse glass painting was mainly used for religious motifs. It is somewhat unsuitable for portraits, as it does not allow for a detailed elaboration of the facial features. This portrait of a gentleman within an oval-shaped mount is characterised by the rather flat outline of his features.
Suitable for Everyday Use
Jewellery and gift boxes with portrait miniatures are intimate objects that were worn on or around the body. As early as the sixteenth century, the nobility began commissioning portraits set into medallions, rings and bracelets. The hair of the sitter was often set into the backs of pendant medallions. Initially reserved for the nobility and patricians, the upper middle classes also adapted this form of representation from the mid-eighteenth century onward. Especially for lovers who were forced to spend time apart or were otherwise asunder, these mementos often represented the last token of love. Rulers liked to give snuffboxes with their respective representative portraits to deserving courtiers or foreign visitors.
Who was the owner of this pendant medallion bearing the portrait of Princess Karoline of Baden (1776-1841)? On the back, a picture using hair has been composed within the circular format. Perhaps it was made for the marriage of the young woman to her husband, who later became King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.
Mysterious
Often, information about the sitters can be found on the backs of portrait miniatures. However, it is also the case that the portraits may have travelled extensively around the art market, thereby losing specific identificatory details and/or context. These people are waiting to be identified. Will it ever be possible to reconstruct their identity?
Who was this man of letters painted by William Berczy (1744-1813)? While we know nothing about the sitter, we are well informed about the artist. Berczy was a colourful personality with numerous talents. He founded the Canadian town of Markham and co-founded York (now Toronto).
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