European Miniatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of more than 300 European portrait miniatures is catalogued in this book, published to accompany an exhibition at the museum. Dating from the early-16th century to about 1850, the works fall broadly into three categories - French, English and Continental. The collection includes work by Jean Clouet, who is credited with having originated the genre of portrait miniatures, and three examples of only 20 painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, the first great master of this art. Most of the other significant figures in the field - Hilliard, Hoskins, Cooper, Hall, Fueger, Zincke, Cosway and Isabey - are represented, as are many painters who worked primarily in larger formats, such as Fragonard, Vestier, the Van Blarenberghes, and Rosalba Carriera.