French school of the second quarter of the 19th century.

French school of the second quarter of the XIX century.
"Male portrait".
Miniature in oil.
Measurements: 6.5 x 5.5 cm; 11 x 10 cm (frame).

Male portrait in oval format representing a middle-aged character, a gentleman with a rosy face, wearing a blue felt coat with golden buttons and a starched collar formed by different layers of ribbons and lapels.

From the Renaissance miniature portraits, framed in a circle or oval, were pieces for private contemplation. Considered as jewelry, in the seventeenth century they became pieces of personal adornment or a gift object, being mounted as jewelry. They were made in a great variety of techniques, such as oil on copper, tin or ivory, gouaches on parchment or cardboard and, since the 18th century, watercolor on ivory. This delicate art will be lost since the second half of the 19th century, in parallel to the development of photography. During the 19th century, the most common in this type of pieces were historicist representations, often set in the previous century.