![CVCSC-9.-Richard-Cosway-A-Lady-c-Compton-Verney-photo-Jamie-Woodley--aspect-ratio-2-1](https://images.comptonverney.org.uk/uploads/2024/05/CVCSC-9.-Richard-Cosway-A-Lady-c-Compton-Verney-photo-Jamie-Woodley-aspect-ratio-2-1.jpg?resize=20%2C10&gravity)
The
Reflected
Self
Portrait Miniatures, 1550-1850
Saturday 21 September 2024 – Sunday 23 February 2025This sumptuous exhibition will delve into the fascinating history of portrait miniatures.
![A large spider sculpture in a green meadow below a blue sky next to a neoclassical building.](https://images.comptonverney.org.uk/uploads/2024/04/0U9A2343a-Edit.jpg?resize=1000%2C1000&gravity)
Opening Times
Tue – Sun: 10am-5pm
Mondays: Closed, except bank holidays
Galleries are open 10.30am – 5pm
About the
Exhibition
A rare opportunity to view works by many of the leading miniature painters to have worked in Britain, from Isaac Oliver and Samuel Cooper to Richard Cosway and George Engleheart. Co-curated with portrait miniatures specialist Emma Rutherford, this sumptuous exhibition will delve into the fascinating history of portrait miniatures.
Highly personal works of art, portrait miniatures were often commissioned to mark key moments in peoples’ lives, and the exhibition will draw out some of the stories of the sitters represented. Miniatures also provide unique records of changing fashions across several centuries, from the elaborate lace ruffs of the late Elizabethan period to the colourful powdered wigs of the Georgian era, and the exhibition will also use items of costume from the collection of the Royal Shakespeare Company to demonstrate how miniatures would have been worn and viewed.
Compton Verney’s 72-strong Grantchester Miniatures collection will be displayed in its entirety for the first time, along with examples from the Dumas Egerton Trust collection of over 800 miniatures – on long-term loan – and key works by individual collectors.
Image: Richard Cosway, A Lady © Compton Verney, photo Jamie Woodley