Miniatures as love tokens

Miniatures demand a more intimate type of viewing than oil paintings hung on walls. Because it is rarely possible for Gallery visitors to enjoy these objects as their artists intended we provide the following video of Richard Cosway’s miniature of George, Prince of Wales as it would have been handled and viewed.

The size, delicacy and fragility of watercolour miniatures, painted on ivory, encased in precious metals and stones and mounted with bodily relics of the person depicted suggest a unique type of private and intimate viewing that differs from other more public art forms.

Miniatures were meant to be handled, held and worn. They might be passed for admiration from viewer to viewer in a courtly or social circle. Mounted in gold lockets, they could be worn as jewellery for display or, more secretly, for the private appreciation of the wearer thus keeping the sense of an absent loved one close.

George IV asked to be buried with Cosway’s miniature of Mrs Fitzherbert placed at his breast, a symbolic gesture of his undying love for his secret wife.

As exhibition culture developed in the late eighteenth century there was a tendency for miniatures to become larger to catch people’s attention in a crowded display. Privacy, however, seems to be a vital element in the viewing of this miniature of the Prince.

The case with front and back covers also sets up a dramatic sense of revelation. Expectation mounts as the case is opened to reveal the likeness and, in an intentionally protracted action, the miniature must be turned over to expose the lock of hair concealed behind the portrait.

As material objects given as love tokens or as mourning jewellery, miniatures helped maintain a personas presence in both visual and physical ways, thus adding a unique emotional value to an object invariably composed of precious materials and minute workmanship.