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Source Description
Unlike fragile portrait miniatures painted in watercolor on vellum or ivory, which are prone to cracking, fading, and flaking, enamels are resilient, impervious to the effects of light, and retain their striking original colors over time. Partly for this reason enamel was considered ideal for reproducing famous paintings and treasured portraits in a reduced and luminous form. The complicated and labor-intensive process of enameling required the artist to fire numerous layers of colored metal oxide at different temperatures. This process made it difficult to produce a faithful portrait likeness, though masters of the medium like Jacques Thouron were able create portraits of remarkable subtlety imbued with the sitter's personality.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
103821
label
Portrait of Étienne François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
103821
contentType
object
title
Portrait of Étienne François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul
description
Unlike fragile portrait miniatures painted in watercolor on vellum or ivory, which are prone to cracking, fading, and flaking, enamels are resilient, impervious to the effects of light, and retain their striking original colors over time. Partly for this reason enamel was considered ideal for reproducing famous paintings and treasured portraits in a reduced and luminous form. The complicated and labor-intensive process of enameling required the artist to fire numerous layers of colored metal oxide at different temperatures. This process made it difficult to produce a faithful portrait likeness, though masters of the medium like Jacques Thouron were able create portraits of remarkable subtlety imbued with the sitter's personality.
date
mid to late 1700s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79509078
creators
2576
genreSpecific
Portrait Miniature
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 6.4 cm (2 1/2 in.); Diameter of frame: 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.)
cul
Switzerland
accession
1921.912
Source extras
tec
enamel in a gilt metal and enamel frame
tombstone
Portrait of Étienne François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul, mid to late 1700s. Jacques Thouron (Swiss, 1740–1789). Enamel in a gilt metal and enamel frame; diameter: 6.4 cm (2 1/2 in.); diameter of frame: 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of J. H. Wade, 1921.912
collection
P - French 18th Century
inscriptions
inscription
signed right: Thouron
citations
citation
"Accessions." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 8, no. 9 (1921): 138-41.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 139
creditline
Gift of J. H. Wade
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:36:09.163000
sourceId
103821
dept
European Painting and Sculpture
coll
P - French 18th Century
med
enamel in a gilt metal and enamel frame
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
17ff45c54c24a80d