DOI issue:
No. 286 (January 1917)
DOI article:Wood, T. Martin: The Buccleuch miniatures at the Victoria and Albert Museum
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24575#0182
The Buccleuch Miniatures
conception of the art as summed up in the work
of the later half of the eighteenth century—in the
miniatures of Cosway, Engleheart and Plimer.
This is referred to, indeed, as the golden age of
Miniature, but there are many who would place
that age at a previous time : that of Cooper, for
instance. The present writer sees Miniature paint-
ing at its height with Hilliard and Oliver, when
it has a life—if a fantastic one—and charm of
its own ; when it is not merely a portrait or a
picture dwindled small, but a picture which could
not be enlarged because the whole beauty of its
KING JAMES II, WHEN DUKE OF YORK (1633-I7OI)
BY SAMUEL COOPER
composition resides with its jeweller-like love of
small spaces • thus achieving concentration, such
as that of the sonnet or of the epigram, which is
not in any sense compression. But for the element
of likeness-taking, entering in as an end—as an
art in itself—we could not possibly compare the
charm of the Miniature of any other time with
that of the Hilliard period. I use the word charm
in its true sense—as all words should be used in
speaking of art—meaning that enchantment, that
sorcery, by which a work of art takes possession of
imagination and fancy for the moment to the
exclusion of everything else in the world.
Hilliard called Holbein his master. Holbein's
influence enabled Hilliard to improve his repre-
sentation of the face. It sometimes is the instinct
of a decorator, which Hilliard supremely was, to
170
keep out intensity of expression in the face; to
adopt towards the human countenance an attitude
that almost relegates it to the background pattern
with " still-life." Holbein's influence checked this
in Hilliard to his considerable gain as an artist;
for it is the vitality with which he represents the
MARY CROMWELL
COUNTESS OF FA U CON BERG (1636-1712)
ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN HOSKINS
sitter that communicates interest to the elaborate
accessories by which he surrounds them. Holbein
himself figures in connection with the art for far
more than the perfection of his own achievement.
KING CHARLES II. (163O-1685)
ATTRIBUTED TO SAMUEL COOPER
conception of the art as summed up in the work
of the later half of the eighteenth century—in the
miniatures of Cosway, Engleheart and Plimer.
This is referred to, indeed, as the golden age of
Miniature, but there are many who would place
that age at a previous time : that of Cooper, for
instance. The present writer sees Miniature paint-
ing at its height with Hilliard and Oliver, when
it has a life—if a fantastic one—and charm of
its own ; when it is not merely a portrait or a
picture dwindled small, but a picture which could
not be enlarged because the whole beauty of its
KING JAMES II, WHEN DUKE OF YORK (1633-I7OI)
BY SAMUEL COOPER
composition resides with its jeweller-like love of
small spaces • thus achieving concentration, such
as that of the sonnet or of the epigram, which is
not in any sense compression. But for the element
of likeness-taking, entering in as an end—as an
art in itself—we could not possibly compare the
charm of the Miniature of any other time with
that of the Hilliard period. I use the word charm
in its true sense—as all words should be used in
speaking of art—meaning that enchantment, that
sorcery, by which a work of art takes possession of
imagination and fancy for the moment to the
exclusion of everything else in the world.
Hilliard called Holbein his master. Holbein's
influence enabled Hilliard to improve his repre-
sentation of the face. It sometimes is the instinct
of a decorator, which Hilliard supremely was, to
170
keep out intensity of expression in the face; to
adopt towards the human countenance an attitude
that almost relegates it to the background pattern
with " still-life." Holbein's influence checked this
in Hilliard to his considerable gain as an artist;
for it is the vitality with which he represents the
MARY CROMWELL
COUNTESS OF FA U CON BERG (1636-1712)
ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN HOSKINS
sitter that communicates interest to the elaborate
accessories by which he surrounds them. Holbein
himself figures in connection with the art for far
more than the perfection of his own achievement.
KING CHARLES II. (163O-1685)
ATTRIBUTED TO SAMUEL COOPER