February - One has to have a sense of humour!

A sense of humor
One has to retain sense of humor when visiting eBay! I am surprised none of my regular visitors have been clamoring to buy these two silhouettes of Admiral Lord Nelson. They have been advertised for several days at the bargain price of only £5,000,000 each ($8,000,000). For that price, one would expect free shipping, but no, there is an additional £60 each for shipping, not even an indication shipping can be combined! For those tempted, the item numbers are 290391643807 and 290391641768 - As one might expect they are offered by a seller named 'Jake_The_ Snake' which I guess says it all!

For those without $16,000,000 to spare, how about this 'bargain' at only $18,000. It is item 130303058653 and described as;
"THIS IS A MAGNIFICENT WATERCOLOR MINIATURE PAINTING ON IVORY BY WORLD CZECHOSLOVAKIAN LISTED ARTIST FRANZ MASCHEK 1797-1862 SHOWING A PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG PRETTY LADY IN A FORMAL DRESS SIGNED ON THE MIDDLE RIGHT."

The seller lives in Brentwood, CA, but how they arrive at such a ridiculous price is beyond me.


On a more serious note
I was asked this question;
"I have noticed quite a few Edwardian miniatures have very light colors to the point of looking faded. When I ask eBay sellers they usually tell me the light colors are a style of the period. Because many miniature paintings of that period are done in watercolors I am inclined to question that explanation and just consider the light colors fading. Books about portrait miniatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) always explains watercolors are fragile and subject to fading. So was it an Edwardian portrait miniature style to paint very lightly or is it usually fading? Would light colors in most watercolor miniatures be the result of fading?"

My reply was; "It is hard to generalize, but as with other things they are a product of their social surroundings. Fading can be an issue, but one also needs to remember what paint was available. Early artists had to grind their own natural pigments so colours are more limited. As a greater range of artificial colours emerged, some paintings became more delicate. Also, early 19C artists were mainly men, and early 20C were mainly women who preferred a paler palette. Early 20C miniatures with a photographic base needed less paint than those painted from scratch, so that can make them appear paler."

To a separate question about early 20C photo-based miniatures I replied; "I sometimes have great difficulty in deciding whether there is a photo base with 20C miniatures, as with yours. As a result, I tend to view them from what I can see in terms of the painter's skill, and do not disregard them just because they might have a photo base. Whereas if the base is obvious, I am not as keen on them. I recognise many artists of large paintings used various kinds of aids, such as grid-lines, projected images, or tracings. Thus I think miniature painters who have fully covered the base so it is not obvious, can fairly be judged as if there is no photo base. Thus I would not get too worried about the possible base and enjoy it as it is. 20C miniatures can be painted on ivorine, which is a celluloid material, but most are on ivory. As an example, at http://american-miniatures20c.blogspot.com/search?q=quivey there are five miniatures by one artist. Two and four are definite photo bases, one and five may be, but I think three is not. However, I like them all as different examples by one artist."