American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art »

Carrie Rebora Barratt is Curator, American Paintings and Sculpture, and Manager of The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art, and Lori Zabar is Research Associate, American Paintings and Sculpture, both at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This volume catalogues the world’s most comprehensive collection of American portrait miniatures, ranging in date from the early 18th to the 20th century and representing 155 artists. Jewel-like and intimate, the pieces portray spouses, children, and other loved ones and were usually created for personal use. The Museum’s collection is also significant for its self-portraits by artists and for portraits of notable public figures. Each of the nearly six hundred works is illustrated and described in detail, and a biography and bibliography are provided for each artist. Two essays chart the history of the collection and the stylistic development of casework and lockets.

Library Journal

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) has an expansive collection of American portrait miniatures that spans the 18th to 20th centuries and includes nearly 600 portraits by over 150 artists. For the first time, Barratt (curator, American Paintings & Sculpture, Met) and Zabar (research associate, American Paintings & Sculpture, Met) present in print the entire collection of highly personal and extremely fragile miniature portraits. Each miniature is represented by an actual-size image and entries that include the artist's biographical information, published references, and any known information about the sitters. While 300 of these miniatures were included in Dale T. Johnson's American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection, this comprehensive volume joins Graham Reynolds's European Miniatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art to form the complete examination of portrait miniatures at the Met. Zabar's essay on the casings and frames of American miniatures is the jewel in this crown. VERDICT Essential to the study of American portrait miniature painting, but having little broader appeal.—Kraig Binkowski, Yale Ctr. for British Art, New Haven, CT