COLLECTING PORTRAIT MINIATURES IN AUSTRALIA with Alison Inglis

Australia is fortunate to possess a number of fine public collections of portrait miniatures, many of them formed in the twentieth century.  This presentation will explore the origins and contents of three collections of portrait miniatures held in Victoria - at the National Gallery of Victoria, at Hamilton Gallery, and at The Johnston Collection – and will consider the similarities between the collections and the motivations behind the collecting of this distinctive category of art object. 

ALISON INGLIS is an Honorary Fellow in the Art History program at the University of Melbourne. A former staff member, she co-ordinated the MA of Art Curatorship course for many years. She has a longstanding research interest in nineteenth-century British and Australian art, especially museum collections and exhibitions.  

The Hamilton Gallery 60th anniversary publication will be available in our SHOP soon.

This lecture is presented on-site at TJC. Please see your ticket for details. 

This lecture is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust and The Friends of TJC 

Images supplied|  

James Scouler (English, circa 1740 - 1812) 

Master Jolly, 1783 

watercolour on ivory, wood, gilded, convex glass |100 x 85 mm 

Johnston Collection Foundation collection, 1989 

Richard Cosway RA (English, 1742 - 1821) 

Madame du Barry, 1791 

watercolour on ivory | 85 x 68 mm 

National Gallery of Victoria, Felton Bequest, 1936 

artist unknown 

ring, (miniature of a man, surrounded by diamonds), circa 1768 

gold, silver, diamonds | 29 mm 

Hamilton Gallery, Herbert and May Shaw Bequest