By ELIZABETH LOUNSBERY
Author and Critic

MENTOR GRAVURES

• THE GOLDEN HOUR, by W. J. Baer
• THE HOURS, by Edward G. Malbone
• PORTRAIT OF A CHILD, by Lucia Fairchild Fuller
• MRS. BECKINGTON, by Alice Beckington
• PERSIS, by Laura Coombs Hills
• JOHN LAWRENCE, by John Trumbull

TTHE revival of miniature painting in America in the last twenty-five years has awakened interest in its past history. The installation in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the comprehensive collection of miniatures owned by the estate of the late J. Pierpont Morgan has no doubt done much to increase this, and inspire the purchase and gifts of examples by American painters, for the Museum collection, that are now on permanent exhibition there.

Just when the art had its beginning has never been definitely determined, but its evolution from the portrait painting in illuminated manuscripts and parchments of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is generally accepted. In these, small heads and portraits were painted into the text and often in the first letter of the first word of a paragraph. This was extensively practiced in Italy, where this work assumed a necessarily religious character, being executed almost exclusively in the monasteries, for ecclesiastical use.

Minium, the Latin name for a red mineral coloring matter, was the pigment used by the early scribes for the initial letters and headings of these manuscripts. Thus, the term "miniatura" generally came to be applied to these portraits, which later became known as "miniatures." Miniature painting on ivory, or paintings "in little," as they have been called, gradually developed into a "personal" art, because of their peculiar appeal to the sentiments and affections, and for their "companionable proportions." They were often framed in black wood, usually in gold, however, sometimes mounted in jewels or set in a locket that could be readily worn on a chain or ribbon about the neck, or kept in intimate touch upon the dressing table or desk. In them the fashions and vanities of costume and head-dress of all periods have been recorded in the daintiest and most minute detail.

The history of miniature painting, however, is not complex—the methods and materials being much the same throughout its development or decline. The art is largely confined to the simple portrayal of heads, with only occasional contributions of fanciful subjects. Were it not, therefore, for the changes of fashion, one would have difficulty in remembering the painters, and an approach to monotony would result.

Curiously enough, the first notable miniature painter, Hans Holbein, has remained the undisputed prince of miniature painters. Indeed, it may be said that the birth of miniature painting as an enduring means of expression in art dates from the time of Holbein's arrival in England, in 1526. Following Holbein, Nicholas Hilliard became England's most distinguished exponent of the art—then Richard Cosway and his contemporaries in England, France and Italy. This period, the eighteenth century, marks the introduction of miniature painting into America, where it became popular as an expression of art during and after the Revolution, as large oil portraits had been before.

Charles Willson Peale, the famous painter of George Washington (of whom Peale is said to have painted fourteen portraits) was the best known of his era, many of his miniatures being painted while in camp on the battlefield. His brother James, likewise won a reputation in miniature painting, his work being notable for its extreme delicacy and beauty. We are told that starting life as a carpenter, he was able to make the frames used by both his brother and himself for their portraits and miniatures.

John Singleton Copley was another famous artist of this period. He was renowned for his large portraits in oil, which were characterized by a skilful treatment of silks and rich fabrics for both costumes and elaborate backgrounds, and yet he painted many miniatures. John Trumbull, known chiefly as a painter of stirring historical subjects of the Revolutionary era and for his portraits of Washington, also worked in miniatures, as did John Hesselius, in Annapolis. Gilbert Stuart, while a prolific painter of portraits, is not said by his biographers to have painted miniatures, although several have been attributed to him.

The fact that many miniatures, even by the greater artists, were not signed or dated, has made it difficult to determine the origin of some of the most beautiful examples, or to place them definitely as the work of American painters. Moreover, miniatures brought back as souvenirs by those who were able to travel abroad in those days introduced the work of foreign artists, often unsigned, among American miniatures, thus making identification more difficult.

Edward G. Malbone, born in Newport, R.I., in 1777, was destined to become the most important miniature painter of his time in America. Malbone had the gift of realism; of simple, unaffected grace and a sureness of rendition that compelled attention. His portraits were likenesses of intimate and convincing truth. "The Hours," Malbone's most famous work, a fanciful subject depicting the past, present and future hour and painted in 1801, after a short period of study in England, is now the property of the Providence AthenÆum. Many of his portrait miniatures are owned by individuals throughout the South, where he spent several years, and prematurely died in the height of his career, at the age of thirty. A group of his portraits is also included in the Metropolitan Museum collection.

Charles Fraser, Malbone's contemporary and friend, likewise excelled, especially in male portraiture. Others of this period and men who afterwards forsook their art for other interests, but who were recognized as successful miniature painters, were Robert Fulton (1765-1815) the inventor of the steamboat, and Alvan Clark, the most notable of all lens grinders. John Ramage, an Irishman by birth, became a well known miniature painter in Boston and New York about this time, and also Richard M. Staigg, who, though born in England, was prominently identified with American art as one of the original members of the National Academy of Design and a miniature painter of distinction, strongly influenced by Malbone. Benjamin Trott was a contemporary of Malbone's and Fraser's, whose painting was characterized by strength and delicacy.

Anson Dickinson, John Wesley Jarvis, Joseph Wood, Henry Inman of Philadelphia, and Charles Cromwell Ingham, may also be mentioned among the miniature painters of the early nineteenth century, together with Sarah Goodridge, a protÉgÉ of Gilbert Stuart's, and whose work reached a great degree of excellence about 1840, and later John Henry Brown.

About this time miniature painting began to decline, owing to the introduction of the daguerreotype and the photograph. Such American artists as devoted their efforts to miniature painting struggled on without sufficient recognition until, feeling the need of organization and the encouragement in this branch of art that an association would lend, the American Society of Miniature Painters was founded in 1899 by William J. Baer, Alice Beckington, Lucia Fairchild Fuller, Laura Coombs Hills, John A. McDougall, Virginia Reynolds, Theodora M. Thayer, and William J. Whittemore. It was the intention of the Society to hold annual exhibitions, where the work of all American miniaturists could be passed upon by a competent jury and then be seen by the public. The first annual exhibition was held in January, 1900, at the Galleries of Messrs. Knoedler & Co., New York City. Isaac A. Josephi, prominent as a miniaturist at this time, became its first president, and is accredited with the conception of the Society. William J. Baer, sometime president and afterwards treasurer of the Society, contributed largely through his efforts to make the Society the factor that it has since become in the art world.

The impetus thus given to miniature painting led, unfortunately, to the production of cheap substitutes of artistic work in the form of colored photographs made to simulate miniatures. These tawdry imitations were sold broadcast to undiscriminating persons, and did much toward creating the opinion that a miniature could not be a serious work of art. Some merely regarded miniature painting as a remarkable feat of technical skill—a "stunt," in which the feature of interest was the astonishing minuteness of detail that could be introduced on a very small area. It was to counteract this popular fallacy and encourage the work of really good artists that the American Society of Miniature Painters lent its best efforts—with the coÖperation of the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters,—an offshoot from the older organization.

These exhibitions revealed a miniature art of a high order of merit. But even among examples supremely fine in quality there are to be found many productions that were simply good, honest workmanship, without inspiration. Painting on ivory is not easy of control, and it is unresponsive to the intention of the hand. The colors wash up readily, or at best are apt to be spotty and unmanageable. In consequence, the painter must resort to stippling (a process of drawing by means of dots) and repeated light touches to produce the required flow of form or surface. The results, therefore, except under the hand of a master, are apt to run to labored effects, due to the loss of freshness and directness. The expression, "It is art to hide art," may be taken to mean that an artist's results should appear comfortable, spontaneous and unrestrained.

William J. Baer

In these characteristics there is no more proficient exponent than William J. Baer, although his earlier efforts in art were devoted to magazine illustrating, painting in oil and teaching drawing at the School of Applied Design for Women, Cooper Institute and Chatauqua. It may be interesting to note here how circumstances often cause the door of opportunity to open for a man, in fields quite different from those to which he dedicated himself. For example, S. F. B. Morse (1791-1872) who was the most able portrait painter in the United States in his time, found his place in the Hall of Fame as the inventor of the telegraphic code.

So Mr. Baer's activities as a portrait painter were turned into another field of art. Having painted a successful portrait of the late Alfred Corning Clark, of New York City, in 1892, and afterwards a replica in a miniature, Mr. Baer began his career as a miniature painter, showing unrivalled skill and an acknowledged excellence of conception, character, color and suggestion of detail. In 1896 he painted his first ideal subject,—"The Golden Hour," and in 1908 what he considers his most important and ambitious endeavor, "Primavera," representing "Flora," the handmaiden of spring, in which the color scheme is rendered in delicate pinks, blues, greens and grays. "Aurora," owned by Mr. Henry Walters of Baltimore; "Daphne," a charming conception of the nude; "Summer"; "Mildred," a fancy head representing spring; "Doris," another female nude, and "Young Diana," are also among the ideal subjects for which Mr. Baer has become famous, while the portrait miniatures of many prominent persons can be numbered as the result of his able brush.

Laura Coombs Hills

In freshness and brilliancy of rendition Laura Coombs Hills, of Boston, is a recognized leader among living miniaturists. Her work is charmingly natural and unaffected, with vivacity evident in every essential part of her work. Especially true is this of her miniature entitled "Persis," in the Metropolitan Museum, a "5 x 6-1/2" oval. In this a child with brownish red hair, dressed in faded pink, is seated in relief against the reds and blues of the background. "The Goldfish" is another beautiful miniature by Miss Hills, in which her treatment of the bright golden tresses of a girl, her gown and the illusive tones of the background, denote the artist to be a colorist of the first rank. "The Bride," a harmony of gray, gold and blue, is also a notable example of her work that marks her as a craftsman of great talent.

Theodora W. Thayer

Theodora W. Thayer's short career (1868-1905) as a miniature painter measures well up to that of Malbone's in its quality and good art. Perhaps Malbone will be more popularly remembered by reason of the fact that he painted a number of works, whereas the available works of Miss Thayer are few. The latter artist had the distinction of being "different" from other miniaturists, although quite without eccentricity.

In her portrait of Parke Godwin, at the Metropolitan Museum, we see a person we should like to know. A charming portrait of an old gentleman, with a mass of white hair that dominates the picture. This is not only a characteristic example of Miss Thayer's art, but is an eloquent portrayal of fine manhood. In the profile portrait of Miss Gray the genius of this artist is again seen, also in her portrait of Bliss Carman, the poet, in profile.

Lucia Fairchild Fuller

The successes of Lucia Fairchild Fuller, like those of Miss Hills and Miss Thayer, followed immediately upon Mr. Baer's. Mrs. Fuller's painting, like Mr. Baer's, is full of tenderness, reflecting sympathetically and affectionately the details of her subjects. Feminine grace and the charm of child life are special qualities of her work. In the Metropolitan Museum may be seen a masterpiece of child portraiture—a little girl standing in her nightgown, caressing her doll. In this the color scheme is delicate throughout—in the tender pearly flesh and the pale blue background. In "Mother and Child," the portrait of a woman with a classic profile, dressed in red brocade with ivory white draperies over her shoulders, upholding the nude figure of a little girl with outstretched arms, is again seen a perfection of arrangement, line and fine color, and a predominating human interest that attracts by its sympathy.

Alice Beckington

Alice Beckington, like the other miniaturists just referred to, was one of the original members of the American Society of Miniature Painters. A close friend of Miss Thayer's in the latter's lifetime, she profited much by that influence. Her work is distinguished by its dignity and reserve. Her most successful miniatures tend to warm schemes of color. In her portrait of her mother ("Portrait of Mrs. Beckington") in the Metropolitan Museum, the coloring of the dress is of a faded blue, against a background of a warm, dull coloring—not gray, not brown, while the reddish color of the chair provides the only note of difference needed to satisfy the eye. This picture is essentially characteristic of Miss Beckington's art, representing her straightforward and sincere simplicity, combined with an appreciation of subdued color harmonies.

William J. Whittemore

William J. Whittemore is well known as a painter in oils and in water color—one who essayed miniature painting without ever deserting the other mediums. His work is marked by a fondness for completeness of beauty and fineness of finish, whether in oil or miniature. As a master of form and an excellent painter of likenesses, Mr. Whittemore has executed a great number of portrait miniatures. His "Burgomeister," in which an old man wearing a ruff appears against a somber background, is a fine bit of characterization, strongly expressed.

Among other artists who are now prominently identified with American miniature painting may be mentioned Elsie Dodge Pattie, whose work is represented in the larger type of miniature, rendered with much tenderness and directness, as in the portrait heads of her own children. Also Margaret F. Hawley, of Boston, a thorough craftsman, as is evidenced in her fine portrait of Alexander Petrunkevitch. The work of Heloise G. Redfield, who has had a Paris training, is characteristic of the method of the French school (a method which has found little favor with American miniaturists generally) wherein there is a free wash of color on the surface of the miniature instead of the granulated appearance of stipple work. The work of Katherine Smith Myrick is in direct contrast, being entirely of stipple-producing qualities, while Mabel R. Welch uses free washes, qualified with delicate and well controlled stipple that never obtrudes in her finished work. The miniatures of Lucy M. Stanton, a southern painter, now in New York, are rendered rather in the manner of the late Theodora W. Thayer, and are strong in characterization. Those of Margaret Kendall are virile and natural, and her portraits of children are always charming. Maria Judson Strean's portraits are refined, and painted, with lightness and freedom. The work of Lydia E. Longacre is personal and has much charm. Harry L. Johnson, of Philadelphia, known as a miniaturist but a few years, has painted effectively both landscapes and figures on a diminutive scale. W. Sherman Potts is a competent and scholarly craftsman, who has established a summer school in miniature painting in Connecticut. Emily Drayton Taylor, who has been president of the Philadelphia Society of Miniature Painters since its organization, has been a prolific worker in the field.

Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright 1917, by The Mentor Association, Inc.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

PORTRAIT MINIATURES By George C. Williamson

MINIATURES, ANCIENT AND MODERN By C. J. H. Davenport

MINIATURES By D. Heath

HISTORY OF PORTRAIT MINIATURES (two vols.) By George C. Williamson

HOW TO IDENTIFY PORTRAIT MINIATURES By George C. Williamson

CHATS ON OLD MINIATURES By J. J. Foster

? Information concerning the above books may be had on application to the Editor of The Mentor.