Portrait of a Gentleman
18th century
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
6.5 × 5.2 cm (2 9/16 × 2 1/16 in.); Framed: 8.6 × 6 cm (3 3/8 × 2 3/8 in.)
Classification
miniature painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
7461
Art Historical Context
This delicate miniature portrait, created by an anonymous English artist the 18th century, captures the refined elegance of Georgian-era portraiture on an intimate scale. Painted in watercolor on ivory, the work measures just over two inches tall, making it a highly personal object likely intended as a keepsake or token of affection. Such miniatures were popular among the British gentry and emerging middle classes, who valued these portable likenesses as symbols of status and sentiment during an age of expanding trade and social mobility. The choice of ivory as a support allowed the watercolo...