The Smithsonian Art Museum has a video lecture on its site giving a superb illustrated overview of American Portrait Miniatures. The short piece is narrated by Carol Aiken, a specialist conservator of miniatures, historian and writer. The link is: http://americanart.si.edu/luce/media.cfm?key=372&artistmedia=0&object=2610&subkey=350 .

A New York collector went to visit the Nathaniel Roger’s house last weekend,  and emailed me a photo of the dignified Greek Revival dwelling.   It is in Long Island,  at the southeast corner of Montauk Highway and Ocean Road. Further information on the Nathaniel Roger’s House Preservation Project may be found at: http://www.bridgehamptonhistoricalsociety.org/rogers.html.  For those collectors not familiar with Roger’s work, he was one of the foremost 19th century American miniaturists.  Further information on him may be found on my website, where I have one miniature listed by him: http://www.archibaldminiatures.com/collection/american.php .

A fascinating history blog named Georgian London provides an intimate view of daily life 18th century London.

“History News Network” says: “From London’s 18th century rookeries, to being a dwarf in 18th century England, to Jeremy Bentham and the birth of a surveillance society, to what it was like to have gout, to bizarre birth stories from Gentleman’s Magazine, Georgian London informs, instructs, and entertains us on ordinary life in 18th century London, emphasizing especially the artisan and immigrant populations of the city. This is fascinating socal history presented in blog formk and is a terrific younger entrant into the burgeoning history blog scene.”

The blog has been voted “History Website of 2009″ by the online readers of History Today magazine, and contains links to other online history blogs, such as Victorian London.  Georgian London may be found at http://www.georgianlondon.com/ .

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a specialist dealer  in portrait miniatures is placing pieces with descendants of the artists or sitters. Recently I had the pleasure of selling a signed miniature of an actress by the rare British artist Thomas Heaphy to a direct descendant of Heaphy.  Heaphy’s works come onto the market very, very infrequently. One other signed portrait miniature by him, very similar to the one I sold, can be seen on the blog http://portraitminiature.blogspot.com , which showcases an outstanding private collection. The link to the page is: http://bit.ly/5aAMp5  (#1801).

The new owner of my Heaphy miniature commented: “Unfortunately I haven’t any pictures of Thomas Heaphy himself , but this picture entitled “The Poultry Seller,” which exhibited at the Old Watercolour Society, 1810, no. 235,  bears an uncanny resemblance to at least three members of my father’s family, and I wonder if it might be Thomas himself, or his father.

I have in my possession a miniature by Thomas Heaphy’s wife Mary Stevenson. It is inscribed as “a portrait of a gentleman by Miss Stevenson /83 Charlotte Street/Rathbone Place” and underlined, Mr Brown. To my untrained eye I would suggest that Mary Stevenson was a more accomplished artist than Thomas himself. It has been suggested to me by a knowledgeable art historian that her work may have been on occasion have been put up for sale as Thomas’s work. This begs the question as to how Mary managed to accumulate the vast sum of £1250 on her death, as very few,  if any, women artists were recognised at this time.”

The Poultry Seller

An Actress, Signed by Thomas Heaphy, Circa 1800

The artist’s biography is as follows:

Thomas Heaphy (1775-1835), born in London, was articled to an engraver, and then became a pupil of John Boyne, who ran a drawing school and was a friend of artist James Holmes. Heaphy exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institute, the Society of British Artists, the Old Water Colour Society and the New Water Colour Society. He executed oil portraits, watercolor portraits, miniatures, genre subjects, and colored prints. In 1803 he became the portrait painter to the Prince of Wales. In 1812 he went to the Penisula and followed the army, painting portraits of British officers, including a portrait of the Duke of Wellington with his General Staff, which was much admired. He became the first president of the Society of British Artists in 1824.

A copy of his will dated February 2, 1835, naming him as an artist in water colours, at 8 St. John’s Wood Road, St. Marylebone, included reference to 1250 pounds from his first wife, Mary (nee Stevenson, also an artist), which was to be left to his second wife, Harriet Jane, and included letters of administration to Harriet Jane Heaphy, widow. All four of his children: Charles Heaphy, Mary Ann Heaphy, Thomas Frank Heaphy and Elizabeth Murray (nee Heaphy) went on to become artists. Mary Ann specialized in miniatures. She married a portrait painter named W. Musgrave in 1832, and exhibited after that date as Mrs. Musgrave.

A miniature of a man signed “T. Heaphy, 1815,” and a miniature of a lady signed “T.H. 1803″ on the front and in full on the reverse, are in the Victoria Albert Museum. Examples of his work are also in the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Collection, London. A monography on Heaphy by W.T. Whitley was published in 1933 by the Royal Society of British Artist’s Art Club.

There’s a real need for a comprehensive  dictionary and guide for American portrait miniatures (along the lines of Daphne Foskett’s dictionary on English miniatures).  It’s astounding to go through Theodore Bolton’s book and see how many miniaturists are listed whose works are apparently now in the wind. (Bolton’s book has very few images, or it would be a greater help as far as identifying artists). 

There’s scholarship available on American miniaturists–but it’s scattered far and wide in a variety of books and articles. Likewise,  there are many miniatures in many U.S. museums across the country, as well as historical societies and other public collections (such as the Tennesse Portrait Project), and in a number of private collections, but these haven’t been cross-referenced and assessed en suite.   Once that’s done, the scholarship can then be advanced.

Unsigned American miniatures come on the market every day,  and languish unidentified.  A comprehensive dictionary of American miniatures and miniaturists–with examples by each artist, a brief history of each artist, and a description of the artist’s techniques–would go far to help identify  American School miniatures, and expand the knowledge on this  American art form.  In particular the American Revivalists need some coverage, as there’s a dearth of material.  If the information were consolidated  significant progress could be made in the study of American portrait miniatures, and it would add  important knowledge to America’s  history. Miniatures are a vital part of our fine art, social and political past. It’s hard for others to take our miniaturists seriously if we don’t  take them seriously.  As well, such a book introduces them to a wider audience–which, in turn, brings more visitors to the museums, exhibitions, and lectures on miniatures. And there’s wider potential audience than even that–most English and European parties interested in portrait miniatures known very little about American miniatures, and a dictionary would bring interest in them into an international realm.

I think with the publication of the first edition that then a good deal of material presently in private collections would come forth, and enrich and update a second edition.  Just the other day, for instance, an accidental conversation with a blogger led to the discovery of a Benbridge with an identified sitter–it has been in her  family for 200 years (and, alas for collectors, will remain so).

As well, there may be important information already collated by individuals. Edward (Grosvenor) Paine supposedly left behind a comprehensive manuscript on miniatures that he used as a sales tool. Likewise there’s supposed to be material in the Chieffo estate.  The Lewis Rabbage estate papers on Revival artists are apparently now with the Worcester Museum.  

In the meantime, I, as have some others, have been keeping  research files on miniaturists, recording every  identified artist I come across as well as any information on them.   For anyone out there who has images of signed, inscribed or firmly identified American miniatures, especially by the more scarce artists, as well as any accompanying information (provenance, exhibitions, etc) then please send them along and I’ll add them to the files.