Henry Pierce Bone
Frederick Joseph Landgrave of Hesse, Hambourg

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • Frederick Joseph Landgrave of Hesse, Hambourg
Date1838
MediumEnamel on metal, and ormolu
DimensionsSight: 3 × 2 3/8 in. (7.6 × 6 cm)
Frame: 6 1/4 × 4 1/4 × 1/2 in. (15.9 × 10.8 × 1.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Rienzi Collection, bequest of Caroline A. Ross
Object number2005.1626
Non exposé

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Department
Rienzi
Description

Although portrait miniatures painted in watercolor on vellum or ivory are more commonly found today, those painted in enamel were also popular from the 17th through the 19th centuries. The technique was difficult and exacting but resulted in a brilliantly-colored likeness which would never fade.


Henry Pierce Bone was one of the most accomplished enamellists in 19th-century England. He eventually became enamel painter to Queen Victoria. Bone´s work for the Royal family possibly led to the commission for this impressive portrait of Frederick VI (1769—1829), Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. Frederick, an officer in the Austrian Army, served during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Late in life he married Elizabeth, the third daughter of King George III.


Provenance[Christie’s, London, 21 November 2000, lot 35]; [Judy & Brian Harden Antiques, Gloucester, U.K.]; purchased by Caroline Ross; bequeathed to MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Love Tokens: Portrait Miniatures from the Caroline A. Ross Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Alice Pratt Brown Gallery and Rienzi; Drawing Room, November 3, 2007-March 3, 2008.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved on recto frame, lower right: "ENAMEL. H.P.BONE."

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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