Aniko Bezur, Theresa Fairbanks-Harris, and Richard R. Hark
Abstract
Portrait miniatures are complex and often understudied artworks presenting a combination of materials that offer an opportunity for conservators with different backgrounds to come together and share their expertise to effectively address treatment issues. These fascinating and beautiful small portraits are painted or enameled on a variety of supports, including parchment, ivory, copper, wood, and paper. They are highly personal images of loved or revered individuals that were very popular, especially before the advent of photography. Miniatures were made to be held in the hand, worn as lockets and bracelets, or stored in precious housings. The enclosures were essentially shrines to the personage within. Materials used included decorative housings with human hair (often of the loved one), pearls, brass wires and ciphers, decorative colored and stamped foils, and colored glass. These miniatures could be stored in ivory or wooden enclosures or metal or enameled lockets that were sometimes encrusted with jewels and precious stones. The metal lockets and frames were fitted with a glass lens and are sometimes challenging to open. Miniatures have often been tampered with, altering the original configuration of components.
This presentation will focus on the analysis and conservation treatment of two miniatures. Scientific examination of an additional dozen miniatures was also undertaken to learn more about the pigments and other materials used to create the paintings, thereby informing future conservation treatment as well as artistic practice. Scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (MA-XRF) and Raman spectroscopy provided useful insights into the material components and helped to identify areas of past alterations.
The treatment of a British miniature painted in 1682 in watercolor on parchment by Lawrence Crosse of Colonel James Griffin will address the disfiguring, discolored historic lead white corrections which had darkened on exposure to atmospheric pollution to brown spots on the face of the sitter. A second treatment involves a miniature of a gentleman by Irishman Francis George Joseph in watercolor on ivory painted in 1798 that addresses the correction of a poorly treated miniature. This miniature is encased in a rose gold locket with a decorative back that had been attacked by mold and further tampered with, resulting in the misalignment of the blue cobalt glass, human hair, and decorative wirework. An overview of portrait miniature materials and techniques will be included as background for the technical examination and conservation efforts. The value of analysis to support conservation decisions in the treatment of these remarkable objects will also be highlighted.