La théorie et la critique du portrait en miniature aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles : regards croisés entre la France et les îles britanniques

Abstract

This article offers some thoughts on the artistic literature related to portrait miniatures, through texts written in France and the British Isles - in England in particular, but also in Ireland. The artistic literature concerning this subject in these geographical areas is in fact specific and changes over time. The first works explicitly referring to portrait miniatures were published in England and focused on the production of miniatures. In eighteenth-century France, art criticism appeared, as a new kind of text dealing with miniatures, and taking the viewers into account. Thanks to all these sources, aiming at different readerships, we can examine the constituent elements of the theory of portrait miniature in France and England through a comparative approach.

Keywords

• Miniature
• limning
• portrait
• art theory
• art criticism
• artistic literature