Skip to main content

Portrait miniature of a young man: C.2-2004

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Portrait miniature of a young man

Maker(s)

Painter: Spornberg, Jacob

Entities

Categories

Description

Portrait miniature of a young man in profile to sinister, glass, painted on the reverse, in black, Etruscan red, and dark blue enamels, and gilt. Signed 'w Spornberg invenit Bath'. Mounted in an oval wooden frame.

Slightly convex glass, painted on the reverse in black, red, white, and dark blue enamels, and gilt. Oval. A young man in profile to sinister. His hair is dressed in a queue tied at the bottom with a bow, and he wears a coat with a high collar, a cravat and ruffled shirt. The profile is painted in black and red against a black ground with a narrow red line border. Below the portrait inscribed from the back is the signature 'Mr SPORNBERG invenit Bath'. The medallion is surrounded by a gold line from which radiate eight semi-circles of blue enamel edged with gold, alternating with eight gold triffid leaves with small black lines and a spot on each. The area beyond is white. The miniature is set in an oval moulded wood frame, backed with greyish-blue paper, and having a small metal hanging loop at the top. The miniature and its frame are housed in a modern, rectangular wooden box with a loose glass front, lined on the bottom/back with four pieces of grey-green velvet (not accessioned)

Notes

History note: Purchased by the testatrix from Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., London on 14 March 1985

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Mrs E.M.L. Turner

Place(s) associated

  • Bath ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2004-03-01) by Turner, E. M. L., Mrs

Dating

18th Century, Late
George III
Circa 1792 CE - Circa 1800 CE

Note

Spornberg was born in Finland, studied painting in Stockholm, and visited Bath briefly in 1785 before settling there in 1790.

School or Style

Etruscan

Components of the work

Portrait composed of enamel ( black, Etruscan red, white, and dark blue)
Decoration composed of gold
Frame Height 16.5 cm Width 14.2 cm

Materials used in production

slightly convex Glass

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.2-2004
Primary reference Number: 107769
Entry form: 538
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 12 August 2016 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Portrait miniature of a young man" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/107769 Accessed: 2024-12-22 23:10:10

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/107769 |title=Portrait miniature of a young man |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 23:10:10|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-107769

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...