id: 127232 accession number: 1949.549 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.549 updated: 2023-11-29 19:03:26.584000 Portrait of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1715. Christian Friedrich Zincke (German, 1683/85–1767). Enamel on copper in a gilt metal frame; framed: 6.4 x 5.1 cm (2 1/2 x 2 in.); sight: 5.9 x 4.8 cm (2 5/16 x 1 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection 1949.549 title: Portrait of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1715 creation date earliest: 1715 creation date latest: 1715 current location: creditline: The Edward B. Greene Collection copyright: --- culture: England, 18th century technique: enamel on copper in a gilt metal frame department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - British before 1800 type: Portrait Miniature find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Christian Friedrich Zincke (German, 1683/85–1767) - artist Christian Friedrich Zincke was born in Dresden, Germany, where he apprenticed with his goldsmith father.1 At the invitation of the master enamelist Charles Boit (1663–1727), Zincke traveled to England in 1706, became Boit’s pupil, and later established the most successful enamel-painting studio in England. Several generations of British monarchs patronized Zincke, including Queen Anne, King George I, and particularly King George II, a great lover of enamels.
During the early years of his practice, Zincke charged under 7 guineas for a portrait, and although inflation remained steady, he was able to command up to 30 guineas by the end of his career. This substantial increase not only indicates the artist’s rise in popularity, but it also speaks to his deteriorating vision, as the larger fees were implemented to
limit the number of commissions taxing Zincke’s failing eyesight, which forced him to give up painting professionally in the mid-1740s.
The enameling techniques utilized in portrait miniatures were developed during the early seventeenth century, but the first half of the eighteenth century was the heyday of enamel painting in Britain. The art form was prized for its resilience and brilliant colors, though the complicated and labor-intensive process of individually firing multiple layers of colored metal oxide made it more difficult to create a faithful likeness. Zincke executed portraits from life as well as copied
older portraits in oil from artists including Peter Lely (1618–1680) and Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723). Always willing to flatter his sitters, Zincke was known to make some of his sitters appear more youthful and to work from earlier portraits. In spite of the fact that many miniatures by Zincke are signed on the counter-enamel, attribution is complicated by the fact that he kept an industrious studio populated with students and assistants of varying talents. He began to teach over a decade after his eyesight failed, and among his better-known students were William Prewett (active 1733–c. 1750) and Jeremias Majer (1735–1789), whose work is also in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. --- measurements: Framed: 6.4 x 5.1 cm (2 1/2 x 2 in.); Sight: 5.9 x 4.8 cm (2 5/16 x 1 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: signed on back: CF Zincke fecit/ 1715. [CF in monorgram]. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America opening date: 1993-03-26T04:00:00 Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993). title: Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives opening date: 2013-11-10T00:00:00 Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 20, 2008 - September 22, 2008). * Main European Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 23, 2013 - May 20, 2014). --- PROVENANCE Nyberg, London date: footnotes: citations: (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), London. England) date: -1949 footnotes: citations: Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1949 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1949- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures; The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32, no. 49, pl. IV url: https://archive.org/details/PortraitMiniatures/page/n51 Carlsen, G. Robert. Western Literature; Themes and Writers; Teacher's Resources Guide. St. Louis: Webster Division, McGraw-Hill, 1967. page number: p. 442 url: Coffin, Sarah, and Bodo Hofstetter. Portrait Miniatures in Enamel: The Gilbert Collection. London: Philip Wilson in association with the Gilbert Collection, 2000. page number: p. 116 url: Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. page number: Mentioned: p. 86 url: Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. page number: Cat. no. 22, pp. 117-119 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.549/1949.549_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.549/1949.549_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.549/1949.549_full.tif