in a general sense, signifies representation in a small compass, or less than the reality.

MINIATURE PAINTING;

A delicate kind of painting, consisting of little points or dots; usually done on vellum, ivory, or paper, with very thin, simple, water colours.—The word comes from the Latin minium, "red lead;" that being a colour much used in this kind of painting. The French frequently call it mignature; from mignon, "fine, pretty," on account of its smallness and delicacy: and it may be ultimately derived from pingere, "small."

Miniature is distinguished from other kinds of painting by the smallness and delicacy of its figures and faintness of the colouring; on which account it requires to be viewed very near.

Sect. I. Of Drawing and Designing.

To succeed in this art, a man should be perfectly skilled in the art of designing or drawing: but as most people who affect the one, know little or nothing of the other, and would have the pleasure of painting without giving themselves the trouble of learning to design (which is indeed an art that is not acquired without a great deal of time, and continual application), inventions have been found out to supply the place of it; by means of which a man designs or draws without knowing how to design.

The first is chalking: that is, if you have a mind to do a print or design in miniature, the backside of it, on another paper, must be blackened with small coal, and then rubbed very hard with the finger wrapped in a linen cloth: afterwards the cloth must be lightly drawn over the side so blackened that no black grains may remain upon it to soil the vellum you would paint upon; and the print or draught must be fastened upon the vellum with four pins, to keep it from shifting.

Vox. XIV. Part I.

And if it be another paper that is blackened, it must be put between the vellum and the print, or draught, with the blackened side upon the vellum. Then, with a blunted pin or needle, you must pass over the principal lines or strokes of the print, or draught, the contours, the plait of the drapery, and over every thing else that must be distinguished; pressing so hard, that the strokes may be fairly marked upon the vellum underneath.

Copying by squares is another convenient method for such as are but little skilled in the art of designing, and would copy pictures, or other things, that cannot be chalked. The method is this: The piece must be divided into many equal parts by little squares, marked out with charcoal, if the piece be clear and whitish, and the black can be fairly seen upon it; or with white chalk, if it be too brown and dusky. After which, as many squares of equal dimensions must be made on white paper, upon which the piece must be designed; because, if this be done immediately upon vellum, (as one is apt to miscarry in the first attempt), the vellum may be foiled with false touches. But when it is neatly done upon paper, it must be chalked upon the vellum in the manner before described. When the original and the paper are thus ordered, observe what is in each square of the piece to be designed; as a head, an arm, a hand, and so forth; and place it in the corresponding part of the paper. And thus finding where to place all the parts of the piece, you have nothing to do but to form them well, and to join them together. By this method you may reduce or enlarge a piece to what compass you please, making the squares of your paper greater or less than those of the original; but they must always be of an equal number.

To copy a picture, or other thing, in the same size. Drawing and proportion, another method is, to make use of varnished paper, or of the skin of a hog's bladder, very transparent, such as is to be had at the gold-beaters. Talc or umber will likewise do as well. Lay any one of those things upon your piece; through it you will see all the strokes and touches, which are to be drawn upon it with a crayon or pencil. Then take it off; and fastening it under paper or vellum, set up both against the light in the manner of a window; and with a crayon, or a silver needle, mark out upon the paper or vellum you have put uppermost, all the lines and touches you shall see drawn upon the varnished paper, bladder, tale, or umber, you have made use of, and which will plainly appear through this window.

After this manner, making use of the window, or of glass exposed to the light, you may copy all sorts of prints, designs, and other pieces on paper or vellum: laying and fastening them under the paper or vellum upon which you would draw them. And it is a very good and a very easy contrivance for doing pieces of the same size and proportion.

If you have a mind to make pieces look another way, there is nothing to be done but to turn them; laying the printed or drawn side upon the glass, and fastening the paper or vellum upon the back of it; remembering to let your lights fall on the left side.

A good method likewise to take a true copy of a picture in oil, is to give a touch of the pencil upon all the principal strokes, with lake tempered with oil; and to clap upon the whole a paper of the same size: then passing the hand over it, the touches of the lake will stick and leave the design of your piece expressed upon the paper, which may be chalked like other things. But you must remember to take off with the crumb of bread what remains of the lake upon the picture before it be dry.

You must likewise make use of pounce, made of powdered charcoal put in a linen rag; with which the piece you would copy must be rubbed, after you have pricked all the principal strokes or touches, and fastened white paper or vellum underneath.

When the piece is marked out upon the vellum you must pass with a pencil of very clear carmine over all the traces, that they may not be effaced as you work; then clean your vellum with the crumb of bread, that no black may remain upon it.

The vellum must be pasted upon a plate of brads or wood, of the size you would make your piece, to keep it firm and tight. But this pasting must be on the edges of your vellum only, and behind the plate, for which purpose your vellum must exceed your plate above an inch on every side; for the part you paint upon must never be pasted; because it would not only give it an ill look, but you could not take it off if you would. Cut off the little flaps and locks of the vellum; and wetting the fair side with a linen cloth dipped in water, clap the other upon the plate with a clean paper between them; so much as hangs over must be pasted upon the back of the plate, drawing it equally on all sides, and hard enough to stretch it well.

**Sect. II. Of Materials.**

The chief colours made use of for painting in miniature are,

- Carmine. - Venice and Florence lake. - Rose pink. - Vermilion. - Red lead. - Brown red. - Red orpiment. - Ultramarine. - Verditer. - Indigo. - Gall stone. - Yellow ochre. - Dutch pink. - Gamboge. - Naples yellow. - Pale masticot. - Deep yellow masticot. - Ivory black. - Lamp black. - True Indian ink. - Bitre, or wood foot. - Raw umber. - Burnt umber. - Sap green. - Verdigris. - Flake white. - Crayons of all colours. - Gold and silver shells. - Leaf gold and leaf silver.

The seven transparent colours, which are used where writing is seen through the colour.

- Lake. - Blue. - Yellow. - Liquid - Grass-green. - Dark-green. - Purple colour. - Brown.

Most of these colours necessary for miniature painting may easily be prepared by attending to the directions given under the article Colour-Making.

As colours taken from earth and other heavy matter are always too coarse be they never so well ground, especially for delicate work, because of a certain sand remaining in them; the finest parts may be drawn out by diluting them with the finger in a cup of water. When they are well steeped, let them settle a while; then pour out the clearest, which will be at top, into another vessel. This will be the finest, and must be let dry; and when it is used, must be diluted with gum water.

If you mix a little of the gall of an ox, a carp, or an eel, particularly of the last, in green, black, gray, yellow, and brown, colours, it will not only take away their greasy nature, but also give them a lustre and brightness they have not of themselves. The gall of eels must be taken out when they are skinned, and hung upon a nail to dry; and when you would use it, it must be diluted with brandy; add a little of it mixed with the colour you have diluted already. This likewise makes the colour stick better to the vellum, which it hardly does when it is greasy; moreover, this gall hinders it from scaling. Some colours are made clearer by fire; as yellow ochre, brown red, ultramarine, and umber: all others are darkened by it. But if you heat the said colours with a sharp fire, they change; for the brown red becomes yellow; yellow ochre becomes red; umber reddens also. Cerufs by fire takes the colour of citron, and is often called magicot. Observe, that yellow ochre heated, becomes more tender than it was, and softer than brown red. Likewise brown red heated becomes softer than fine yellow ochre. Both are very proper. The finest and truest ultramarine, heated upon a red-hot iron, becomes more glittering; but it wastes, and is coarser and harder to work with in miniature.

All these colours are diluted in little cups of ivory, made on purpose, or in sea shells, with water in which gum arabic and sugar candy are put. For instance, in a glass of water put a piece of gum as big as a walnut, and half that quantity of sugar candy. This last hinders the colours from scaling when they are laid on, which they generally do when they want it, or the vellum is greasy.

This gum water must be kept in a neat bottle corked; and you never must take any out of it with a pencil that has colour upon it, but with a quill or some such thing.

Some of this water is put in the shell with the colour you would temper, and diluted with the finger till it be very fine. If it be too hard, you must let it soften in the shell with the said water before you dilute it. Afterwards let it dry; and do thus with every colour, except lily-green, fap-green, and gamboge, which must be tempered with fair water only. But ultramarine, lake, and bistre, are to be more gummed than other colours.

If you make use of sea shells, you must let them steep two or three days beforehand in water; then cleanse them in boiling hot water, mixed with vinegar, in order to carry off a certain salt, which otherwise sticks to them, and spoils the colours that are put to them.

To know whether colours are sufficiently gummed, you have nothing to do but to give a stroke of the pencil upon your hand when they are diluted, which dries immediately; if they chap and scale, there is too much gum; if they rub out by passing the finger over them, there is too little. It may be seen likewise when the colours are laid on the vellum, by passing the finger over them. If they stick to it like a powder, it is a sign there is not gum enough, and more must be put to the water with which you temper them: but take care you do not put too much; for that makes the colour extremely hard and dry. It may be known likewise by their glueiness and brightness: so the more they are gummed, the darker they paint; and when you have a mind to give a greater strength to a colour than it has of itself, you have nothing to do but to give it a great deal of gum.

Provide yourself with an ivory pallet, very smooth, as big as your hand; on one side of which the colours for the carnation, or naked parts of a picture, are to be ranged in the following manner. In the middle put a great deal of white, pretty largely spread; because it is the colour most made use of: and upon the edge, from the left to the right, place the following colours at a little distance from the white.

Malticot, Dutch pink, Orpiment, Yellow ochre, Green; composed of verditer, Dutch pink, and white, in equal quantities. Blue; made of ultramarine, indigo, and white, to a great degree of paleness. Vermilion, Carmine, Bistre, and Black.

On the other side of the pallet, spread some white in the same manner as for the carnation. And when you have a mind to paint draperies, or other things, place near the white the colour you would make them of, in order to work, as shall be shown hereafter.

The use of good pencils is a great matter. In order to make a good choice, wet them a little; and if the hairs keep close together as you turn them upon the finger, and make but one point, they are good; but if they close not together, but make several points, and some are longer than others, they are good for nothing. When they are too sharp pointed, with only four or five hairs longer than the rest, yet closing all together, they are, notwithstanding, good; but they must be blunted with a pair of scissors, taking care at the same time you do not chip away too much. It is proper to have two or three sorts of them; the largest for laying the grounds and dead colouring, and the smallest for finishing.

To bring the hairs of your pencil to join close together and make a good point, you must often put the pencil just between your lips when you are at work; moistening and pressing it close with the tongue, even when there is colour upon it; for if there be too much, some of it is taken off by this means, and enough left for giving fine and equal touches. You need not apprehend this will do you any harm. None of the colours for miniature, except orpiment, when they are prepared, have either ill taste or ill quality. This expedient must especially be used for dotting, and for finishing, particularly the naked parts of a picture, that the touches may be neat and fair, and not too much charged with colour. As for draperies and other things, as well in dead colouring as in finishing, it is sufficient, in order to make the hairs of your pencil join well, and to unload it when it has too much colour, to draw it upon the edge of the shell, or upon the paper you must put upon your work to rest your hand on, giving some strokes upon it before you work upon your piece.

To work well in miniature, you must do it in a room that has but one window, and fix yourself very near it, with a table and desk almost as high as the window; placing yourself in such a manner, that the light may always come in on the left side, and never forward or on the right.

When you would lay a colour on all parts equally strong, as for a ground, you must take your mixtures in shells, and put in enough for the thing you design to paint; for if there be not enough, it is a great chance but the colour you mix afterwards is too dark or too light. Sect. III. Of Working.

After having spoke of vellum, pencils, and colours, let us now show how they are to be employed. In the first place, then, when you would paint a piece, be it carnation, drapery, or any thing else, you must begin by dead-colouring; that is to say, by laying your colours on with liberal strokes of the pencil, in the smoothest manner you can, as the painters do in oil; not giving it all the force it is to have for a finishing; that is, make the lights a little brighter, and the shades less dark, than they ought to be; because in dotting upon them, as you must do after dead-colouring, the colour is always fortified, and would at last be too dark.

There are several ways of dotting; and every painter has his own. Some make their dots perfectly round; others make them a little longish; others hatch by little strokes that cross each other every way, till the work appears as if it had been wrought with dots. This last method is the best, the boldest, and the soonest done: wherefore such as would paint in miniature ought to use it, and to insure themselves from the first to dot in the plump and the soft way; that is to say, where the dots are lost, in a manner, in the ground upon which you work, and only so much appears as is sufficient to make the work seem dotted. The hard and the dry way is quite the reverse, and always to be avoided. This is done by dotting with a colour much darker than your ground, and when the pencil is not moistened enough with the colour, which makes the work seem rough and uneven.

Study likewise carefully to lose and drown your colours one in another, so that it may not appear where they disjoin; and to this end, soften or allay your touches with colours that partake of both, in such sort that it may not appear to be your touches which cut and disjoin them. By the word cut, we are to understand what manifestly separates and divides, and does not run in and blend itself with the neighbouring colours; which is rarely practised but upon the borders of drapery.

When your pieces are finished, to heighten them a little, give them a fine air; that is to say, give, upon the extremity of the lights, small touches with a colour yet lighter, which must be lost and drowned with the rest.

When the colours are dry upon your pallet or in your flasks, in order to use them, they must be diluted with water. And when you perceive they want gum, which is seen when they easily rub off the hand or the vellum if you give a touch with them upon either, they must be tempered with gum water instead of pure water, till they are in condition.

There are several sorts of grounds for pictures and portraitures. Some are wholly dark, composed of bitre, umbre, and Cologn earth, with a little black and white; others more yellow, in which is mixed a great deal of ochre; others grayer, which partake of indigo. In order to paint a ground, make a wash of the colour or mixture you would have it, or according to that of the picture or portraiture you would copy; that is to say, a very light lay, in which there is hardly anything but water, in order to soak the vellum.

Then pass another lay over that, somewhat thicker, and strike it on very smoothly with large strokes as quick as you can, not touching twice in the same place before it be dry; because the second stroke carries off what has been laid on at the first, especially when you lean a little too light upon the pencil.

Other dark grounds are likewise made of a colour a little greenish; and those are most in use, and the properest to lay under all sorts of figures and portraitures; because they make the carnation, or naked parts of a picture, appear very fine; are laid on very easily, and there is no occasion to dot them, as one is often obliged to do the others, which are rarely made smooth and even at the first; whereas in these one seldom fails of success at the first bout. To make them, you must mix black, Dutch pink, and white, all together: more or less of each colour, according as you would have them darker or lighter. You are to make one lay very light, and then a thicker, as of the first grounds. You may also make them of other colours, if you please; but these are the most common.

When you paint a holy person upon one of these grounds, and would paint a small glory round the head of your figure, you must not lay the colour too thick in that part, or you may even lay none at all, especially where this glory is to be very bright; but lay for the first time with white and a little ochre mixed together, of a sufficient thickness; and in proportion as you go from the place of the head, put a little more ochre; and to make it lose itself, and die away with the colour of the ground, hatch with a free stroke of the pencil, following the round of the glory sometimes with that of the ground, mixing a little white or ochre with the last when it paints too dark to work with: and do this till one be insensibly lost in another, and nothing can be seen to disjoin them.

To fill an entire ground with a glory, the brightest part is laid on with a little ochre and white, adding more of the first in proportion as you come nearer the edges of the picture: and when the ochre is not strong enough (for you must always paint darker and darker), add gall stone, afterwards a little carmine, and lastly bititre. This first laying, or dead colouring, is to be made as soft as possible; that is to say, let these shadowings lose themselves in one another without gap or intersection. Then the way is to dot upon them with the same colours, in order to drown the whole together; which is pretty tedious, and a little difficult, especially when there are clouds of glory on the ground. Their lights must be fortified in proportion as you remove from the figure, and finished as the rest, by dotting and rounding the clouds; the bright and obscure parts of which must run insensibly into one another.

For a day sky, take ultramarine and a good deal of white, and mix them together. With this make a lay, as smooth as you can, with a large pencil and liberal strokes, as for grounds; applying it paler and paler as you descend towards the horizon; which must be done with vermilion or red lead, and with white of the same strength with that where the sky ends, or something less; making this blue lose itself in the red, which you bring down to the skirts of the earth, or tops of houses; mixing towards the end gall stone and Sect. IV.