Enfilade

From the Tansey Miniatures Foundation:

Miniatures from the Time of Napoleon / Miniaturen der Zeit Napoleons
Tansey Miniatures Foundation, Bomann-Museum, Celle, from 26 June 2020

The Tansey miniatures, now held by the Bomann Museum in Celle, represent one of the most significant collections of European miniature paintings. This exhibition showcases a total of 150 works from the time of Napoleon I (1795–1815). These tiny portraits, which were generally intended for personal use, date from the ‘golden age’ of miniature painting. They exhibit a high degree of artistic skill and refined craftsmanship. Unlike the staged, theatrical portraits of absolutism, now for the first time we see realistic likenesses of people who appear ‘modern’—a gallery of women, men, and children from a period of political upheaval dominated by wars.

The accompanying bilingual catalogue (in German and English) provides comprehensive insight into the art of miniature painting in this magnificent era. Specialists have contributed detailed and richly illustrated introductory essays. This volume joins earlier entries in the series, exploring the collection in key periods and presenting new photographic reproductions of the miniatures at actual size.

Bernd Pappe and Juliane Schmieglitz-Otten, with photography by Birgitt Schmedding, Miniatures from the Time of Napoleon in the Tansey Collection (Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2022), 452 pages, ISBN: 978-3777436098, €58 / $65.