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 Home, Exhibition, Welcome to the Vault |
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Introduction to the collection
The miniature portrait collection is part of the rich portrait holdings of the National Archives of Canada. There are approximately 100 works documenting members of the royal family, prime ministers, military and civic leaders and their families, First Nations persons and lesser-known individuals including such diverse groups as settlers, loyalists and explorers.
Miniatures are small portraits that vary in size and often measure from approximately two to twenty centimetres. Although traditionally executed in various media on a variety of grounds, they are most often painted in watercolour on ivory. The term "miniature", now used to denote something small, initially was derived from the Latin term "minium", which is the red lead pigment used in the decoration of the illuminated manuscript of the sixteenth century. It is also a main source of the art form. Early miniatures were sometimes created by goldsmiths and jewellers and were frequently set in precious stones. From an early period, they were established as precious personal mementoes. Ornamental lockets were initially circular and oval and were often worn as jewellery. They were mounted in gold lockets, brooches and bracelets and characteristically covered in protective glass. Sometimes a plait of the sitter's hair was encased in a compartment on the reverse or initials inscribed on the case. A second type of miniature was the larger cabinet size often placed in a rectangular or oval frame that could be hung on a wall. Large paintings were often copied in miniature, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Sir Jeffery Amherst. Before the advent of photography, miniature collections kept by families over decades and centuries served as family portrait albums.
European society cultivated the art for over three centuries. At its height, it was practised by many skilled portraitists who were in high demand. Colouration, technique and size varied according to materials prevalently in use, but the early eighteenth century introduction of ivory as a support revolutionized technical development. Although adding a luminosity to the portrait, the natural antipathy between ivory and watercolour required a skilful technique; a minute error could be irreversible. Artists developed their own small brushes called pencils and used small easels and lenses to work. Painting techniques included stippling with small dots of pigment, hatching with parallel brush stroked and applying washes to cover blocks of ground. By the mid-eighteenth century, the technical accomplishment of successfully cutting large sheets of ivory and the use of oil pigments popularized the larger cabinet miniature in England.
Miniatures appeared in North America in the eighteenth century as colonists became more affluent. The miniatures provided less expensive and more personal alternatives to traditional portraiture. There was an influx of miniaturists from Great Britain, France and Italy; the British brought the larger, luminous style while the continental artists imported a decorative and precise style. The first American miniatures were small, soberly painted, and finely crafted provincial versions of the English prototype, and by 1800, an American school had become established. James Peale, a prominent early American miniaturist, painted the exquisite Basilique-Benjamin Beaubien.
The production of miniatures in Canada responded to the needs of a colonial elite; however, the demand was not great enough to support a local school. Even American colonial centres like Boston and Philadelphia could not offer artists constant employment. As a result, works were largely produced by itinerant artists including American, British and European talents. Event such as the War of 1812 prompted a demand for portraiture as demonstrated by the miniatures of the military, at the same time interrupting the movement of itinerants to Canada. Often, itinerants remained in one place only a few weeks, at most a month or two, and moved around to larger centres such as Montreal and Quebec City.
The collection includes works by European, American and Canadian artists. Interesting later works by Canadians such as Horatio Walker, Gerald Sinclair Hayward and Juliette de Lavoye demonstrate that the miniature tradition continued as a minor art form in Canada into the twentieth century. A large number of important portraits were painted by as yet unidentified artists. It is inherent in miniature collections that identities of sitters and artists often remain uncertain. Few are signed, inscriptions can contain inaccuracies and there are sometimes misattributions.
With the advent of photography in 1839, a need for keepsake likenesses could be met more efficiently at less cost. Photography held an intrigue and a scientific appeal that quickly made it popular. At first, daguerreotypes, small one-of-a-kind photographs on polished copper, adopted the format and presentation of miniatures and were referred to as miniatures. For a short time, the two processes overlapped, with one trying to imitate the other and craftspeople crossing over to work in both areas to maintain their markets. By 1850, most miniaturists had turned to photography or had abandoned the profession. Although miniatures have enjoyed a renaissance in the twentieth century, they have never regained the stature they once had.
The miniature collection of the National Archives is one of the largest and most important in Canada. Like the larger portraits, these small, beautifully crafted pieces document the personalities important to Canadian history who have shaped our past.
