Perfect Likeness: European and American Portrait Miniatures from the Cincinnati Art Museum
Prior to the advent of photography, painters created portrait miniatures. The most intimate form of portraiture, they were usually commissioned as gifts and carried as tokens of love and remembrance.Perfect Likenessshowcases the largest collection of miniatures in the U.S.; the Cincinnati Art Museum's nearly 2,000 British, European, and American portable portraits span three centuries. Painters of miniatures not only captured a likeness but they also infused their mini portraits with personality and historically significant detail. Crisp close-up reproductions are paired with profiles of the artists, explanations of their painstaking techniques, and illuminating reflections on the emotional appeal of these little masterpieces.Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved