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| MINIATURE is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache or watercolor.
Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th-century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was especially valuable in introducing people to each other over distances; a nobleman proposing the marriage of his daughter might send a courier with her portrait to visit potential suitors. Soldiers and sailors might carry miniatures of their loved ones while travelling, or a wife might keep one of her husband while he was away.
The first miniaturists used watercolor to paint on stretched vellum, but in the 18th century, miniatures were also painted on ivory and enamel. As small in size as 40 mm ? 30 mm (1? in ? 1? in), portrait miniatures were often used as personal mementos or as jewelry or snuff box covers.
In the second half of the 19th century, the development of daguerreotypes and photographs contributed to the decline in popularity of the miniatures.
Miniatures are painted in oil, watercolor and enamel, but chiefly in watercolor. Many Dutch and German miniatures were painted in oil, and as a rule these are on copper; and there are portraits in the same medium, and often on the same material, attributed to many of the great Italian artists, notably those of the Bologna school. Samuel Cooper is said to have executed a few paintings in oil on copper
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