Gifts of Grandeur: Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1757

Enamel Miniature set in Diamonds
Gervase Spencer, 1757
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This miniature portrait is among those of the mid Eighteenth Century to mimic the look of watercolor on ivory by using enamels which would retain their color and integrity much longer. The technique of enamel painting was first perfected in the Seventeenth Century by goldsmiths such as Jean Petitot, but the widespread use of the medium for portrait miniatures really rose in popularity a century later. In order to create a miniature like this, many applications of enamel and multiple, carefully-times firings were required. Copper was usually the backing of choice.

This portrait of a now unknown man is the work of English miniaturist Gervase Spencer, a self-taught artist who had originally been a footman.

The miniature, dating to 1757, is luxuriously set with diamonds in a gold frame which has been curved so that it could be worn on the wrist on a ribbon.