Caroline Gould
School of English
Grantham Scholar
- Profile
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The lives and practices of the female portrait miniaturist
The project:
Caroline is undertaking a collaborative PhD (CDA) with the National Portrait Gallery on the female portrait miniaturist (c.1750-1840), funded by the AHRC through the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities. This interdisciplinary project seeks to recover the lives and practices of Britain's forgotten miniaturists, arguing that female miniaturists were not only increasingly numerous in this period but also commercially successful, securing royal patronage and regularly exhibiting in annual shows across the country. Their work has been systematically ignored in favour of the more commercially successful, professional male artist. In a period where the definitions of professional and amateur were shifting and it was socially difficult for women to become professional artists, their cultural contributions in this small and seemingly delicate genre have been consistently assumed to be amateur and perceived as naïve.
By exploring a selection of women's miniature portrait practices, their engagement with public art exhibitions and societies, their artistic networks, training and patronage of others, we can start to rectify art history's canonical linear narratives that privilege the "great", the "genius" and the masculine. Portrait miniatures are both object and artwork, they invite us to explore stories of people, materials and places. Given that the vast majority of portrait miniatures were painted on ivory, with ivory palettes for mixing the watercolour, there is an opportunity to tell a story of global exchange - not simply of art and ideas, but of people, animals and exploitation. Portrait miniatures, and indeed miniatures by women, may be a small part of our cultural heritage but in learning to look at, understand and value small things, we can tell a much bigger story.
Outreach:
Alongside her PhD research, Caroline is a passionate believer in the power of culture and heritage and regularly volunteers for the National Trust and English Heritage. She is currently cataloguing two scrapbooks of drawings compiled by Lady Mary Howard, Viscountess Andover (1717-1803) that are housed at Kenwood, London. In collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery she will co-curate a new display of portrait miniatures and improve online resources with the research findings to aid other researchers, professionals and the wider public.
A frequent exhibition attendee, Caroline reviews exhibitions for her blog and is currently preparing her first curatorial show for September this year. It will be an all-female exhibition of miniature works by contemporary artists at The Point Gallery in Cromer.