Miniatures in Victorian times

The artwork of painting portrait miniatures has its origin with the illuminators of medieval times, whose small depictions of scenes from the Scriptures were integrated into manuscripts. This art form developed and broadened in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe when a need progressed for tiny souvenirs of spouses and children or departed family that might be transported when travelling much as we have a photogaph of our wife or family in our wallets nowadays. Miniatures played a significant function in the private interaction of the upper middle-class and the aristocracy of the time; they were tokens of tenderness or love. Throughout that regard they were similar to mourning brooches containing plaited locks of the hair of the “dearly deceased” that as well became frequent in Victorian period.

Prior to the eighteenth century, miniature portraits were painted in a variety of media: oil, water-color or occasionally enamel – yet watercolor nevertheless predominated. They were as well painted variously on vellum, chicken-skin or cardboard, and even on copper. Throughout the 18th century, nevertheless, water-colour on ivory became the standard choice, and that continued till the miniature was progressively replaced by daguerreotypes and photography close to the end of the 19th century. The zenith of the recognition of portrait miniatures, both in Europe and United states seemed to be in mid-Victorian times.

Daily Life in Victorian London : An Extraordinary Anthology (Victorian London Ebooks)

This anthology has one simple goal: to give the reader a flavour of ‘how life was lived’ in Victorian London, through the words of the Victorians themselves. It is not a comprehensive study; but I have revisited an archive of ten years’ reading and research — nineteenth century diaries, newspapers, magazines, memoirs, guidebooks — in an attempt to include as many diverse aspects of Victorian life as possible. There is, I must admit, a certain bias in my choice of material: I concentrate on t

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6 inch Handmade Vintage Victorian Canopy Style Black Décor Table Top Earrings Necklaces Bracelets Jewelry Holder / Organizer Stand / Display Rack

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Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum

Broadmoor Revealed gives the reader a glimpse behind the walls of England’s first Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

Focused on the Victorian period, the book tells the stories of some of the hospital’s best-known patients. There is Edward Oxford, who shot at Queen Victoria, and Richard Dadd, the brilliant artist and murderer of his father. There is also William Chester Minor, the surgeon from America who killed a stranger in London, and then played a key part in creating the world’s finest

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Victorian Cameo Peridot Green Austrian Crystals Necklace

• Ball Necklace Chain: 18″ + 3 1/2″ extender (Total: 21 1/2″)
• Pendant: 2 1/4″ (length) x 1 1/2″ (width)
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This antique necklace features a pendant nicely designed with a Victorian portrait that is adorned with 6 genuine Peridot green Austrian crystals and 14 sparkling light green Austrian crystals. Makes a great gift! Thank you for shopping Mevoi.

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How Sherlock Holmes Lived: Victorian Customs

A brief look at the life of the Victorian gentleman, based on the habits of the great detective Mr. Sherlcok Holmes. Included are: (1) Clothes, (2) Food, (3) Smoking, (4) Clubs, (5) EtiquetteA brief look at the life of the Victorian gentleman, based on the habits of the great detective Mr. Sherlcok Holmes. Included are: (1) Clothes, (2) Food, (3) Smoking, (4) Clubs, (5) Etiquette

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Portrait miniatures weregenerally small and oval or round. Several have been as small as 40 mm by 30 mm. They were frequently encapsulated in a locket or a protected “portrait box”. Indeed, the housing for the pictures was sometimes decorated with elements of death or love like carved initials or flowers or braided locks of hair. When used for mourning, appropriate imagery was occasionally included on the reverse of the locket or frame, such as mourners at a burial place. Seeing that the style moved into Victorian times some portrait miniatures became much larger (up to 150 mm by 200mm) and were painted in square or rectangular shape, to be shown on rooms or in cabinets. The revolutionary usage of ivory as a “canvas” was introduced by the Italian painter Rosalba Carriera within 1700 since it offered a luminous area for transparent pigments such as watercolour. The ivory was cut from the elephant’s tusk in thin sheets lengthways, occasionally so thin as to be practically translucent. Ivory is, nonetheless, challenging to paint on with watercolour, being oily and non-absorbent. Miniaturists subsequently roughened the surface with great sandpaper or powdered pumice stone. They also bleached it in sun light to make it more whitened. A different method was to degrease it with white vinegar and garlic, or by pushing it with a very hot iron between sheets of paper. Several artists used a brush with just one hair, and added in gum arabic to the paint to make it stickier. Generally-speaking Victorian miniatures encompassed a lighter palette of color, monochromous backgrounds and brushwork that exploited the translucency of the ivory on which it was painted.