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:
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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:
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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.
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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.)
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edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: signed on back: CF Zincke fecit/ 1715. [CF in monorgram].
translation:
remark:
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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).
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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).
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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:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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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:
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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