The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Portrait of General Sir Charles Grey, later 1st Earl Grey

Portrait of General Sir Charles Grey, later 1st Earl Grey

1794
(British, 1755–1834)
England, 18th century
enamel in a gilt metal frame
Framed: 9.6 x 8 cm (3 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.); Sight: 8.9 x 7.3 cm (3 1/2 x 2 7/8 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1949.550
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Henry Bone was a master enameler from Cornwall who began his training in a porcelain factory.

Description

Unlike fragile portrait miniatures painted in watercolor on vellum or ivory, which are prone to cracking, fading, and flaking, enamels are resilient, impervious to the effects of light, and retain their striking original colors over time. Partly for this reason enamel was considered ideal for reproducing famous paintings and treasured portraits in a reduced and luminous form. The complicated and labor-intensive process of enameling required the artist to fire numerous layers of colored metal oxide at different temperatures. This process made it difficult to produce a faithful portrait likeness, though masters of the medium were able create portraits of remarkable subtlety imbued with the sitter's personality. Henry Bone ushered in an enamel renaissance during the late 1700s with his miniatures, which include sensitive and elegant works like this portrait of General Sir Charles Grey, after a portrait by his contemporary Thomas Lawrence. An innovator of new techniques, Bone retained the brilliance and purity of colors in layered glass enamel while achieving fine, naturalistic details by using overglazes for the faces.
  • 1933
    Sale: Christie's London, March 1933 (exact date unknown)
    1933-1949
    Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France
    1949
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH
    1949-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Royal Academy of Arts annual exhibition. The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1795: The Twenty-Seventh. London: Printed by Jospeh Cooper, 1795. no. 509
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Edward Belden Greene. Portrait Miniatures ; The Edward B. Greene Collection. 1951. p. 25, no. 1, pl. XXIII archive.org
    Lawrence, Thomas, and Kenneth Garlick. Sir Thomas Lawrence: A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings. Oxford: Published with the assistance of the Getty Grant Program [by] Phaidon, 1989. p. 199, no. 352
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p.87
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 59, pp. 232-235
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Main European Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 23, 2013 - May 20, 2014).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
    The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, The Royal Academy of Art, London (1795).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of General Sir Charles Grey, later 1st Earl Grey|url=false|author=Henry Bone|year=1794|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.550