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Indepth Arts News:
"Pictures in Private: British Portraiture in Domestic Spaces, 1680-1830"
2003-05-17 until 2003-09-28
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
San Marino, CA,
USA
Small-scale portraiture and its role in 18th-century
British interior design and social customs will be examined in a new
exhibition opened May 17 and continues through September 28 at the
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Pictures in
Private: British Portraiture in Domestic Spaces, 1680-1830 showcases over
one hundred portrait drawings, mezzotint prints, and miniatures from The
Huntington's collection. Through their subject matter, and an examination
of the methods by which they were displayed, this exhibition provides an
intimate glimpse into art collecting practices of the period, shedding light
on important aspects of life in the 18th-century home.
Rather than the narrative painting celebrated on the Continent, portraiture
was the most popular genre of art in eighteenth-century Britain. Collectors
displayed not only large-scale painted portraits, but also portrait prints,
drawings, and miniatures. These smaller images fulfilled many functions-as
personal memorials, fashionable decorations, or expressions of political
affiliation. While portraits of all sizes played an important public role
during the period of 1680-1830, Pictures in Private focuses on the role of
small-scale portraits within the personal spaces of those who purchased
them. These smaller images suited the intimacy and privacy signaled by the
domestic interior.
Small-scale portraits were displayed in a variety of different ways. The
installation of this exhibition evokes several popular modes of
presentation: print rooms, extra-illustrated books and miniature cabinets.
An arrangement of prints on one gallery wall evokes the idea of a print
room, a fashionable form of 18th-century interior decoration. Portrait
prints and drawings were also placed in albums or in extra-illustrated
books, as displayed in a case in the exhibition. While portrait miniatures
could be worn as jewelry, hung on walls singly or arranged in groups, some
collectors also created special display cabinets to focus attention on these
tiny objects. A miniature cabinet, reconstructed in this exhibition,
allowed owners to show their most prized miniatures, often collected for the
historical or artistic value they represented rather than for their personal
connection with the sitter.
Without relying on the complex compositions and somber plots typical of most
large-scale narrative painting, small portraits could illuminate elevated
notions of beauty and nationalism; celebrate fame or notoriety; express
sentiment; or make historical or literary allusions. The subjects featured
in Pictures in Private range from celebrities such as the famous actor David
Garrick, whose likeness was widely collected, to noted beauties of the day,
as well as respected members of aristocratic society, including the Duke of
Marlborough, hero of the Battle of Blenheim. Small-scale images of such
figures were valued for their ability to commemorate the ideals of virtue as
well as to evoke the thrill of vice. One example is Edward Fisher's
18th-century mezzotint print made after Sir Joshua Reynolds's 1759 painting
of Kitty Fisher. A well-known courtesan, she is shown in the character of
Cleopatra, poised to dissolve a large pearl in a chalice of wine as a
demonstration of her vast wealth. The picture immortalizes Fisher as an icon
of decadence; but it is the emphasis on her exceptional beauty that made
this notorious woman's likeness particularly attractive as a collectable
print, and a highly decorative ornament for a domestic interior.
Pictures in Private is curated by Melinda McCurdy, Research Associate for
British and European Art; Diane Waggoner, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Curatorial Fellow; and Elizabeth Mitchell, UCSB-Huntington Intern.
IMAGE:
Valentine Green after Joshua Reynolds
Lady Charlotte Maria Waldegrave, Lady Elizabeth Laura
Waldegrave, and Lady Anna Horatia Waldegrave
1781,
Mezzotint.
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