M I N 



576 



M I N 



Adapta- 

 tion of co- 

 louring and 

 effect to 

 character. 



Works on 

 vellum and 

 paper. 



Miniature proper place for works of this description, particularly 



Painting, miniatures, where they may be preserved for any length 



^ p> v" / O f time. A remarkable proof of this is given by 



the works of Cooper, an eminent English miniature 



painter, in the time of King Charles the First ; those 



specimens which have been preserved in cabinets 



have retained all the freshness of colouring for which 



he was so much celebrated, while those that have been 



exposed to light have lost all their force. 



When a miniature is finished, it is covered with a con- 

 vex glass, to which it is fixed all round the edge with 

 goldbeater's skin, and thus it may be preserved from 

 injury for any length of time. 



In choosing the attitude, the good sense of the artist 

 will naturally direct him to adopt that which will be 

 most agreeable, and most characteristic of his model ; 

 and the same principle will regulate the effect of colour, 

 and light and shadow, according as the subject is gay, 

 animated, or grave ; and this will be much influenced 

 by the proportion which the light bears to the shadow, 

 and the manner in which they are introduced, as well 

 as by the quantity of warm or cold colour which may 

 be allowed to predominate. Thus the effect will be 

 gay, when the white, delicate yellows, orange, and the 

 other light tints prevail ; it will be grave or solemn, 

 when black, blue, and neutral greys form the basis of 

 this effect. 



Miniatures on vellum or paper, are executed in the 

 same way, as all other water-colour drawings, and as 

 these substances admit of repeated washes over each 

 other, and of blending them together without any risk 

 of washing off the first layers of colour, the processes 

 of hatching and stippling are not so indispensable, 

 although, when judiciously managed, they contri- 

 bute greatly to the richness of the effect. The only 

 preparation which the paper or vellum requires, is a 

 simple wash of the weak solution of ox-gall already 

 mentioned, which is of great importance in making the 

 colours work sweetly. Whether vellum or paper be 

 used, in subjects of so much delicacy as portraits of 

 the size in which miniatures are executed, it is obvious 

 that that which has the smoothest surface will be the 

 most proper. What is called Bristol card affords the 

 best surface, and most agreeable ground ; it is usually 

 of considerable thickness, and is rendered extremely 

 smooth, by means of hot pressing. 



Miniature nliole lengths, are frequently executed in 

 water colours on Bristol card ; and although this mate- 

 rial does not equal ivory in the clearness and depth of 

 tone which it gives, it is, under the hands of a skilful 

 and scientific artist, susceptible of much beauty of 

 effect, and delicacy of finishing. We may mention as a 

 proof of this, Mr. Nicholson's beautiful portraits of Mrs. 

 Scott Moncrieff, and of the Earl of Buchan. 



Miniature whole lengths are sometimes executed on 

 Bristol card, the face only being executed in colours, 

 and the rest being finished up to greater or less effect 

 with the black lead pencil. Sometimes the sky and 

 black ground are also delicately tinted with water co- 

 Miniaturej lours. Formerly, the French and Italian artists paint- 

 in opaque ed miniatures entirely in botly^ or opaque colours, but 

 coloun. as these colours are easily injured, and have none of 

 the depth and brilliancy which are so great a charm in 

 the miniatures of our best British artists, painted in the 

 usual manner, it is now little practised. This mode of 

 art is executed by simply adding constant white to the 

 transparent colours, and thus giving them a body. Mi- 

 In oil co- niatures have sometimes been painted in oil colours, 

 lour* an( j t his forms by far the most permanent species of 



art ; it was much practised by our countryman Jame. Mining, 

 sone, called the Scotch Vandyke, and he gave to it all Minorca, 

 the freedom of execution, and beauty of colouring, for ' 

 which his larger works are distinguished. When mi- 

 niatures are to be painted in oil, they may be painted 

 on Bristol board, previously saturated with drying oil, 

 on pannel, or plates of copper, which last is certainly 

 the best for this purpose. 



Some artists, in painting miniatures on ivory, exe- Corabina- 

 cute the face only in water colours, in the usual way, tion f wa - 

 and having covered it with a coat of varnish, finish the ter and oil 

 rest in oil colours ; this combination, however, of the co 

 two materials, oil and water-colours, is seldom very 

 harmonious ; but it is very durable, as the Water co- 

 lours are not liable to fade, after having received the 

 varnish ; but the water-colour miniatures executed ac- 

 cording to the process which we have first noticed in 

 this article, must always obtain the preference for beau- 

 ty of effect, and if properly secured from external inju- 

 ry, and excluded from the light, will be sufficiently 

 durable, (p. G.) 



MINING. SEE MINES OF COAL, AND VEINS. 



MINORCA, MENORICA, or the Smaller, compared suction. 

 with Majorca, is the second of the Balearic isloe in point 

 of importance, and is situated in 40 U N. latitude, and 

 30 45' E. longitude, about ten leagues to the north- 

 east of Majorca. It is of a long and narrow shape, circu- 

 lar towards the north, and concave on the south coast ; 

 about 13 leagues in length, and 38 in circumference. 

 It has been successively possessed by the Carthaginians, History. 

 Romans, Vandals, Moors, Arragonese, and Castilians ; 

 and, for more than a century past, has fallen by turns 

 into the hands of the Austrians, British, French, and 

 Spaniards. Various antiquities are still discernible, 

 and others are occasionally discovered in the island, 

 which indicate the history of its former possessors. In 

 the district of Alayor is a large round mass of unhewn 

 stones heaped together without any cement, called 'by 

 the islanders an altar of the Gentiles. There is a cavity 

 at its base, with a low entrance ; and on its conical 

 summit, a flat place, capable of containing eight or ten 

 persons. Its origin is ascribed to the Celtic druids. 

 On the summit of Mount St. Agatha, also, are the ves- 

 tiges of an old fortification, which is considered as a 

 Roman work. Sepulchres, sepulchral lamps, urns, and 

 lacrymatories, small coarse bronze figures, medals, and 

 coins of various nations, are found in the greatest abun- 

 dance. 



The island is generally flat in its surface, particularly Climate, 

 on the south coast ; and the soil, though rocky or thin, 

 is in most respects tolerably productive. It is much 

 exposed to the north winds, which greatly injure the 

 growth of the trees on that quarter ; but snow is sel- 

 dom seen in the winter season, and the climate during 

 the spring is mild and salubrious. In autumn, the rains 

 are extremely heavy ; and in summer, the heat and 

 drought are most oppressive. 



The principal mountain is Mount Toro, nearly in the Natural 

 centre of the island, steep and conical, with a flat sum- Curiosities, 

 mil, on which is built an Augustine monastery, to 

 which penitents and pilgrims ascend barefooted at all 

 times of the year. The most remarkable natural curi- 

 osities are an extensive grotto near Cuidadella, full of 

 beautiful stalactites ; and in its vicinity, a subterranean 

 lake of salt water. Iron ore and lead ore are common, 

 and marble of various qualities and colours. Lime- 

 stone, full of petrified shell-fish and other admixtures, 

 is very abundant ; besides fine blue slate, and excellent 

 white soft stone, which hardens by exposure to the air. 



