id: 130600 accession number: 1953.322 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.322 updated: 2024-03-26 01:58:28.422000 Portrait of Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French, 1804. Richard Cosway (British, 1742–1821). Watercolor on ivory in a gold locket frame; framed: 7.5 x 6.6 cm (2 15/16 x 2 5/8 in.); unframed: 6.3 x 5.4 cm (2 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection 1953.322 title: Portrait of Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1804 creation date earliest: 1804 creation date latest: 1804 current location: creditline: The Edward B. Greene Collection copyright: --- culture: England, early 19th Century technique: watercolor on ivory in a gold locket frame department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Portrait Miniature find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Richard Cosway (British, 1742–1821) - artist Richard Cosway was Arguably the most fashionable miniature painter in London during the art form’s golden age in
late-eighteenth-century Britain. Also an accomplished painter in oils, Cosway was equally well known for his flamboyant character and the stunning art collection that secured his reputation as an arbiter of taste and model of connoisseurship. His elegant portraits in miniature were coveted by sitters who sought glamour even if it was at the expense of truthfulness. Cosway and his wife, Maria (neé Hadfield), maintained an elite circle of friends who helped define what
was au courant for the age and who consisted primarily of cultural luminaries and young members of high society revolving around George Augustus Frederick, the prince of Wales himself. His steady patronage from 1780 until 1808 fixed Cosway’s popularity within fashionable society. From 1785 Cosway’s miniatures were signed on the back: “Primarius Pictor Serenissimi Walliae Principis” (Principal Painter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales), a pompous Latin designation that garnered the artist both fame and ridicule. Cosway was a successful artist-celebrity in his own time, and, in spite of being criticized periodically for being too superficially pretty, his miniatures have always been among the most desired by collectors. The Cleveland Museum of Art owns five miniatures by Cosway, painted between 1785 and 1805, that are representative of the artist’s stylistic range during the height of his career. --- measurements: Framed: 7.5 x 6.6 cm (2 15/16 x 2 5/8 in.); Unframed: 6.3 x 5.4 cm (2 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: signed on backing: Rdus Cosway / R.A. et F.S.A. / Primarius Pictor / Serenissimi Walliae / Principie / Pinxit / 1804. 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 --- PROVENANCE Prince Henri d'Orléans, Comte de Paris (1908-1999). date: Before 19?? footnotes: citations: (H. E. Backer, London, England) date: footnotes: citations: Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH. gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: By 1953-1953 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1953- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Walker, R. J. B. The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. page number: p. 96, cat. 191 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. page number: p. 282 url: Lloyd, Stephen, and Richard Cosway. Richard Cosway. London: Unicorn Press, 2005. page number: p. 86 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. 68, pp. 258-262 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.322/1953.322_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.322/1953.322_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.322/1953.322_full.tif