10 



most of the methods of life size portrait painters 

 they had never learnt. Mastery, sometimes 

 surp assing mastery, in minute work they 

 possessed, and at times the calm breadth and 

 largeness they contrived to impress upon work 

 done, to all appearance, imder a powerful magni- 

 fying glass, are among their most striking merits. 

 They avoided the appearance of " niggling " ; 

 they concealed, indeed, all the methods of their 

 technimie from all^but microscopic observation. 

 But it was not the mastery of the artist who 

 knows how to work as well on a great scale as on 

 a small. Happily for art, they soon found in Hans 

 Holbein (1497-1543) the very man in all Europe 

 best fitted to teach them. Few, indeed, are the 

 miniatures as distinguished from "illuminations" 

 for manuscripts, known t*^ have been painted by 

 English artists before the first visit of Holbein 

 t^ Jingland in 1526. The only artist whose name 

 is recorded is one Luke Horebolt, and even he 

 was not of English parentage. At any rat« he 

 came of a family of " illuminators," and was 

 employed by Henry VIII. to paint his portrait 

 on more than one occasion. The Mayor 

 mentioned among other great miniature 

 artists Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), Isaac 

 01iver( 1551-1617), Frederigo G uccaro (1574-15S0), 

 John Hoskins (1664), Samuel Cooper (1609-1672), 

 Alexander Cooper, Kichard Gibson the Dwarf 

 (1615-1690), Thomas Flatman (1633-1688), Lewis 

 Crosse (1650-1724), Sir Kobert Stiunge, Jeremiah 

 Mej'er and Xathaniel Hone, Samuel Scot^js, John 

 Scouler, John Smart (1741-1812), and Ozias 

 Humphrey (1742-1810), Richard Cosway, R.A. 

 (1741-1821), James Nixon, A.E.A. (1741-1821), 

 Samuel Shelley (1750-1808), George Engleheart, 

 Sir Thomas Lawrence (1752-1829), William 

 Orimaldi (1751-1830), Andrew Robertson (1777- 

 1845), James Holmes (1777-1860), A. E. Chalon, 

 E.A. (1780-1860), Sii- William Newton (1785- 

 1869), Sir William Ross (1794-1860). Those last 

 named, he said, bring us down to the days of the 

 great eclipse of miniature art by the scientific 

 processes of photography. The " period of total 

 obscuration," however, if the signs of the times 

 might be trusted, was already past, and keen 

 observers are already announcing the rapid 

 restoration of this pi-e-eminently English art 

 to the fullness of its former glory. It was 

 extraordinary, he said, the strides which 

 miniature painting had made i\'ithin the last ten 

 years. He only hoped that some of their ait 

 students in Canterbury would not forget that 

 the a,vt of miniature painting was one of 

 the most lucrative. He knew a lady who 



studied in a school of art for two years and who 

 went to America three or four years ago. In 

 the last thrcL* years she liad made by miniatxire 

 painting a sum of no less than .£14,000. And 

 there were many ladies in London and other 

 towns who were making quite considerable 

 siuus by miniature painting, although, of coursa, 

 they took a certain amount of time to paint. 

 The payments for miniatures varied from sums 

 of .£10 to J^lOO — amounts not to be sneezed at 

 in these hard days of free trade (laughter). He 

 sincerely hoped that this would be taught in their 

 new School of Ai-t, for he was told that it was 

 allowed by the South Kensington Dei^artment, 

 and he was also informed that it would not fall 

 upon the ratepayers but upon the National Ex- 

 chequer. Reverting to the historical portion of 

 his subject, the Mayor explained that the art of 

 painting miniature portraits on enamel was intro- 

 duced into England by Jean Petitot (1607-1691), 

 its greatest mister, in the year 1G35. Among 

 other artists subsequently mentioned wore 

 Jacques Bordier, Charles Boil, Christian Frederick 

 Zinke, Nathaniel Hone, R. A. (1718-1784), Jeremiah 

 Meyer, R.A. (1735-1789), Henry Bone, R.A. 

 (1757-1S34), and Henry Pierse Bone. The 

 principal artists in enamel in England have here 

 been grouped together apart from other paintei-s 

 in miniature, not because the methods of enamel 

 painting differ in any essential respect from 

 those employed in other kinds of art, or because 

 the finished picture is either the better or the 

 worse for being painted on enamel, but simply 

 because at the present time it seems desirable to 

 callattention to one quality in which enamel paint- 

 ing possesses a distinct superioritj'' to any work 

 executed on paper, whether produced by the artist 

 or the photogi-apher. This qualitj' is diu-ability. 

 The enamel vrill still be in the bloom of its first 

 youth when the colours have faded and fled from 

 any paper, or vellum, or ivory, and, indeed, when 

 most of the paper itself has become a mere im- 

 palpable dust. Here, at least, is a field in which 

 — although it is already partially occupied by the ■ 

 photographer — the true artist can always find 

 free room to work with the certainty that the true 

 lover of art ^vill be able to recognise and appreci- 

 ate his genius for ages after liis own right liand 

 has forgottea its cunning (applause). 



At the conclusion of the lecture a cordial vote 

 of thanks was given to the Mayor, proposed by the 

 Chairman and seconded by Alderman Mason, who 

 especially referred to the Mayor's efforts in con- 

 nection with the fi-aming and better preservation 

 of the old City Charters. 



'ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY. "—By Mr, J. OGDEN, A.R.C.A. 



A meeting of the members of the Society was 

 held in the Reference Library of the Beaney 

 Institute on Wednesday, January 27, when the 

 lecturer was Mr. J. Ogden, A.R.C.A. , headmaster 

 of the School of Art. Unfortunately the attend- 

 ance was somewhat meagi-e, and it is much to be 

 regretted that members and their friends did not 



assemble in greater force, especially in view of the 

 intensely interesting character of the subject, and 

 the large nimiber of amateur photograhers to be 

 found in the City. Among those present we 

 noticed Mr. S. Harvey, F.C.S., F.I.C, Messrs. Mc 

 Dakin, W. Cozens, A. Lander, Mrs. Lavender, Miss 

 Phillpotts, Miss Holmes, and Miss Cole. 



