Spanish miniature from the end of the 19th century-early... Lot 12

Spanish miniature from the end of the 19th century-early 20th century. "Young lady". Gouache on vellum. Signed illegibly in the lower right corner. Wooden frame with pyrography decorations. Measurements: 9 x 7 cm; 14 x 12 cm (frame). From the Renaissance miniature portraits were pieces for private contemplation. Considered as jewellery, in the 17th century they became pieces of personal adornment or objects of gift, as they were mounted as jewellery. They were executed in a wide variety of techniques, such as oil on copper, pewter or ivory, gouaches on parchment or card and, from the 18th century, watercolour on ivory. This delicate art was gradually lost from the second half of the 19th century onwards, in parallel with the development of photography. The most common type of work of this type in the 19th century were historicist representations, often set in the preceding century. However, the portrait we present here takes up the spirit of the eighteenth-century portrait-jewel and applies it to modern times, capturing the image of a real woman of her time, no longer a Romantic-style ideal recreation.