Two Brothers at a Balcony
Unknown British, British
about 1780
Watercolor on ivory in a wooden frame
Sight: 1 9/16 × 1 7/8 in. (4 × 4.7 cm)
Frame: 2 7/8 × 3 1/4 × 11/16 in. (7.3 × 8.2 × 1.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: The Jean Frank Hamann Collection; Gift of her Children, David Frank, Lori Weinrott, Nina Frank, Ted Frank, and Sally Frank
2024.77.9
Geography
Place Made: England, Europe
Period
18th century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
On view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, on reverse: Mallory / of / Warwickshire / JWS
Label
Portrait miniatures were popular keepsakes from about the 16th century onward. Intimate representations of individuals or families, these portraits could be given as tokens of affection, friendship, or commemoration and worn as jewelry or kept safely in boxes. Artists’ use of high-status materials such as tortoise shell, ivory, silver, and enamel complemented the preciousness of these representations. Organic supports and water-based pigments are especially susceptible to light damage from UV rays, an attribute to these paintings already recognized even in the early modern period. Many miniatures accordingly had their own cases to protect the colors from fading.
From the 2025 exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, curated by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art
Exhibition History
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Making Colors in Europe, 1400–1800, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 6, 2025 - November 14, 2026.
Provenance
Augustus Decorative Arts, Ltd. (Elle Shushan), before 1997; Folk Art Show, New York, September 1997; where purchased by Jean Frank Hamann (1933-2023), Philadelphia, PA; bequeathed to her children David Frank, Lori Winrott, Nina Frank, Ted Frank, and Sally Frank; by whom given to the present collection, 2024
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