Portrait of Samuel Butler
c. 1715–20
Medium
watercolor on ivory in a period metal frame
Dimensions
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Classification
Portrait Miniature
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Edward B. Greene Collection
Accession Number
1940.1215
Tags
About this artwork
Bernard Lens III was the most renowned member of an artist dynasty. His namesake father was a printmaker, his grandfather a painter, and two of his own sons became artists. Lens III was a critical figure in miniature painting as the art form transitioned away from painting on vellum. During the first decade of the eighteenth century, he established ivory as the primary miniature support in Britain, probably having seen the pioneering work of Rosalba Carriera (1675–1757) brought to England from V...