Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of Étienne François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul

Jacques Thouron

Date

mid to late 1700s

Medium

enamel in a gilt metal and enamel frame

Culture

Switzerland

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.