Portrait of George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland
Sight: 2 11/16 × 2 3/16 inches (6.83 × 5.56 cm)
Masterworks in Miniature, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 30-November 11, 2007.
Renaissance to Restoration, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 3-August 6, 2019-2020.
The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, June 24-September 24, 2023.
Portrait miniatures are intimate tokens of love, loss, allegiance, and affection exchanged between intimates. The earliest examples were painted in watercolor on translucent vellum (animal skin). The vellum was then coated on both sides with a smooth preparation suitable for painting upon then stuck to the plain side of a stiff card for added support. Miniature cases were made by jewelers and often as decorative as the portraits.
Nicholas Hilliard ranks among the most prominent miniature painters during the Elizabethan era (1558–1603). Following Queen Elizabeth I’s order that no hint of shadow should cloud the royal face, many artists depicted her and other patrons in a two-dimensional style. Originally trained as a goldsmith, Hilliard introduced an innovative technique for painting pearls by applying a raised bead of white lead paint topped by a drop of polished silver. Silver tarnishes with age, and these areas now appear black.
Hilliard’s innovative techniques influenced generations of miniaturists in England.
