The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Eye

c. 1930

Emily Drayton Taylor

(American, 1860–1952)
America
watercolor on ivory
Diameter of frame: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr 1961.330
Location: 203B British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

Eye miniatures are often called "lover's eyes" because they were exchanged as sentimental gifts between significant others.

Description

Most popular around the turn of the 1800s, eye miniatures experienced a revival a century later. Emily Drayton Taylor owned a vintage eye miniature of her grandmother that inspired this work, a close copy. However, she changed the eye color from blue to brown, revealing that it portrays a different individual.
  • 1951-1961
    Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr, Kansas City, MO, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1961-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Païni, Dominique, and Guy Cogeval. Hitchcock and Art: Fatal Coincidences. Montreal: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2000. repr. p. 212 (center)
  • British Portrait Miniatures: Tokens of Love and Loss. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 18, 2025-February 15, 2026).
    Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Hitchcock and Art: Fatal Coincidences. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer) (November 16, 2000-March 18, 2001); Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris cedex O4, France (June 6-September 24, 2001).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
    Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).
    Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962).
  • {{cite web|title=Eye|url=false|author=Emily Drayton Taylor|year=c. 1930|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.330