The first major study of portrait miniatures from the Victorian era
JB (active 1893)
King George V (1865-1936) when Duke of York 1893
Watercolour on ivory | 12.4 x 9.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 422326
The Duke of York leans gently on a ledge with his arms crossed in front of him in this miniature by an unidentified artist working in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Adapted from a photograph by W. & D. Downey showing the Prince aged twenty-five in naval uniform, the miniature shows a professional level of competence at a period when the art form was increasingly becoming the province of amateur practitioners. Nonetheless, it has not yet been possible to identify the artist, who signed his or her work with the monogram 'JB'.
Signed centre left in red paint with monogram JB.