Eye miniature

Eye miniatures or Lovers' eyes were Georgian miniatures, normally watercolour on ivory, depicting the eye or eyes of a spouse, loved one or child. These were usually commissioned for sentimental reasons and were often worn as bracelets, brooches, pendants or rings with richly decorated frames, serving the same emotional need as lockets hiding portraits or locks of hair. This fad started in the late 1700s and miniaturists such as Richard Cosway and George Engleheart were responsible for some of the first pieces.

Features

The small size of the painting, as well as the discretion resulting from the fact that the person is not visible in full, make these portraits a hidden treasure, like the preservation of a lock of hair, for example.

History

Eye miniatures are believed to have originated when the Prince of Wales (later George IV) felt the need to send the widow Maria Fitzherbert a token of his love. This gesture and the romance that went with it was frowned upon by the court, so a miniaturist was employed to paint only the eye and thereby preserve anonymity and decorum. The couple went through a form of marriage on 15 December 1785, though all present knew the marriage was invalid by the Royal Marriages Act, since George III had not approved. Reportedly Maria’s eye miniature was worn by George IV, hidden under his lapel. This is regarded as the event which led to lovers' eyes becoming fashionable, appearing between 1790 and the 1820s in the courts and affluent families of England, Russia, France and more rarely, America. 

A note in Lady Eleanor Butler's diary recorded the arrival of a young man who had made the Grand Tour, and had brought "an Eye, done in Paris and set in a ring – a true French idea."

The two most famous portrait painters of eye miniatures are Richard Cosway and George Engleheart. Legend has it that the first portrait was painted by Cosway, who painted the eye of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) for Maria Fitzherbert in 1785. In 1796, George Engleheart is said to have modelled on him the eye of Mrs Mitchell. 

In reality, this sequence of events is more haphazard than that. On the one hand, the format of the portrait makes it very difficult to attribute the painting to its author (small size and discretion), and then the dates do not match. Engleheart was selling miniatures of eyes as early as 1783, according to his account book. He is said to have produced 22 of them in the following decades.

As for Richard Cosway, he actually painted a miniature of Maria Fitzherbert's face for the Prince in 1785, then the Prince's eye in 1785, then Fitzherbert's eye in 1786, then the Prince's mouth in 1795, and again the Prince's eye in 1795.

Diffusion

The portrait painter John Smart is often cited for his miniature eyes.

The fashion for miniature eyes developed somewhat in Europe until 1830, but did not really go beyond the British, French and Swedish borders. In Sweden, General Johan Frans Pollet had the eye of his daughter Marianne Ehrenström painted by the Italian portraitist Giovanni Domenico Bossi.

Brief renaissance

In 1839, Queen Victoria had her eye painted for her fiancé Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, probably by William Charles Ross. The fashion for miniature eyes revived for a few years in its wake, but died out with the appearance of the first photographs.

These portraits could also be found on various other trinkets, framed by precious stones on the lids of toothpick containers, snuffboxes and other small vessels. They would sometimes contain locks of hair gifted by the sitter to further accentuate the sentimentality of the piece. The hair could either be incorporated into the portrait itself or encased behind glass or crystal on the piece of jewellery.

The high prices fetched by these items has generated a thriving market in imitations.

Sourced from Wikipedia