Enfilade

European Portrait Miniatures: Artists, Functions, and Collections
Residence Museum, Celle, Germany, 25-27 January 2013

Proposals due by 31 May 2012

Unknown (probably German), "Portrait of a Miniaturist," ca. 1740 (Tansey Collection Ref.-No. 010.958)

From the 16th century well into the 19th century, portrait miniatures represented the most widely circulating form of portraiture. Mounted as jewellery or often framed on everyday objects, they were easily worn or carried on one’s person and easily transported. They served within a wide range of social functions. Portrait miniatures could be offered as gifts at court and were frequently exchanged as keepsakes among loved ones. They could be displayed within one’s circle or contemplated in private. The portrait miniature often combined a high level of technical craftsmanship with artistic ingenuity and inspiration.

Indeed, the intrinsic attributes of the portrait miniature, its distillation within a minuscule format as well as its intimate nature, have tended to limit art historical research and museum exhibits to the greater advantage of large-scale portraiture. The expertise of a small circle of specialists is, thus, confronted with conspicuously limited findings in comprehensive research and the publication of regretfully few monographs. Knowledge about works in many existing collections remains to date substantially incomplete. The following topics will be addressed at the conference:
• Individual miniaturists, specific workshop contexts, and places of production
• Use of both court and private types and their protagonists
• Iconographies of representation or intimacy
• Evolution of techniques and materials
• Less well-known collections in museums

The symposium will be held on the occasion of the planned opening of the fifth exhibit of the Tansey Collection and the publication of the accompanying catalogue, Miniatures of the time of Marie-Antoinette from the Tansey Collection on January 25, 2013. The conference will be in English. Lectures should not exceed 25 minutes and are to be published separately following the conference. The Tansey Foundation will assume travelling expenses, accommodations, and meals. Proposals from curators of less well-known miniature collections and younger academics are particularly most welcome. Exposés should be in English and no longer than 1500 characters. They should be submitted by May 31, 2012, including name, address, and, if applicable, institution, and be sent to: bernd.pappe@miniaturen-tansey.de

Organisation
Bernd Pappe, Berne (Art Historian and Restorer)
Juliane Schmieglitz-Otten, Celle (Head of the Residence Museum at Celle Castle)
Gerrit Walczak, Berlin (Substitute Professor at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

Visual Conception – IT Coordination
Birgitt Schmedding, Hamburg (Photo Designer)