February 26 – April 2, 1989
Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery
A collection of portrait miniatures from the 18th and 19th centuries. Portrait miniatures are usually executed in gouche and watercolour on wafer-thin pieces of ivory mounted in gold or silver frames. These tiny works, which are sometimes set into tortoise shell bonbonnières or snuffboxes, are rarely put on display because of their extreme fragility.
Primarily of French and English origin, the group includes likenesses of members of the ruling classes, such as Napolean and Josephine, and various literary figures, among them Madame de Staël and Voltaire.