Miniature in painting paintings. The art of miniature painting. Miniature paintings

Miniature - painting, which at first glance captivates with the precision of each stroke and the elegance of the lines. In such small pictures, everything is thought out to the smallest detail, which is what makes them so bright and effective. This type appeared as an art of decorating books, in which capital letters, patterns, borders, frames, etc. were particularly prominent. And already in the 13th century. miniature images went beyond the book pages and turned into beautiful paintings.

What makes miniatures so special and good?

Nowadays, miniature paintings arouse interest and conquer everyone large quantity fans. No matter, we're talking about whether modern or classical miniatures, all of them, painstakingly worked on a small scale, are executed with exceptionally fine strokes. By its quality similar images should not lag behind full-fledged paintings, while withstanding significant magnification. That is why our gallery offers to buy miniature paintings only of the most impeccable quality.

Images made in the form of miniatures can bewitch, especially when viewed at a distance of 10-15 cm. In such works, the artist shows all his talent and skill, which can be seen by examining the drawing with a magnifying glass.

All miniature oil paintings presented in our catalog will become a valuable gift both for yourself and for close friends and relatives. Such miniature canvases can depict beautiful landscapes, still lifes, birds, animals, insects. All of them have harmonious colors, clarity of lines and shapes. It is this careful approach to creating miniatures that makes them so original and attractive. The miniature is sure to be a worthy addition to every home.

Miniature - in fine arts small painting careful and elegant finishing, with a subtle application of paint. Miniatures on paper, porcelain, bone, stone, wood, metal, watercolor miniatures, sculptural and graphic, carved, relief works of small forms. A special type of miniature is painting with varnish, oil or tempera on the surface of small varnish products. There are various schools and directions in the art of miniatures.

Historically, the art of miniatures was known as the art of decorating handwritten books - these are images capital letters, then an ornament appeared, which then grew into a border, and the border into a frame around the page text. In the 13th century The miniatures, having already taken up an entire page in the book, turned into separate paintings.

Miniature painting it is an area of ​​great interest and attracting an increasing number of artists. An area that is truly exciting and fascinating.

A true miniature, whether traditional or modern, is painstakingly executed on a small scale using very fine brush strokes. A miniature painting should not be inferior in quality to large-scale works, and should withstand significant enlargement. Miniature painting is an exceptional quality of work, the paintings look amazing, and even more amazing at a distance of 10-15 centimeters. Only a magnifying glass will allow you to truly appreciate the incredible skill that goes into producing these tiny masterpieces.

Miniature "Buck" size 5 x 7.6 cm. Watercolor	Miniature "Reaching Girl" Artist Pamela Jo Ellis size 6.4 x 6.4 cm. Watercolor	Miniature "Kitten in basket" size 6.4 x 8.9 cm. Watercolor	Miniature "Still Water" Artist Varvara Harmon size 10.2 x 10.2 cm. Watercolor

Over the centuries, the art of miniatures has evolved to embrace different, ever-changing trends and ideas; Today there are many different painting techniques and surfaces used by artists all over the world. To help contemporary artists, new to the genre, some Societies set their own size guidelines, others specify, for example, that the head in a portrait or the main subject depicted cannot be more than 2 inches (5 centimeters). One of the requirements often used is that painting must be “portable”, i.e. should fit in the palm of your hand.

Miniature "Sunflower Galaxy" Artist Thom Glace size 11.4 x 7.6 cm. Watercolor	Miniature" Past Present" Artist Janet Laird-Lagassee size 12.7 x 7.6 cm. Watercolor	Miniature "The Gaze-Asian Leopard" Artist Bonnie Latham size 7.6 x 12.4 cm. Watercolor	Miniature "Daydream Raccoon" Artist Rebecca Latham size 3.8 x 7 cm. Watercolor

For the collector, miniature paintings represent an elegant and compact object visual arts, which can easily be placed anywhere - the entire collection of this original art can be displayed on a single wall or stand.

Artist at work	At the miniature painting exhibition	Artist at work

The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers (RMS) has been operating for more than 100 years. The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, a community of artists, sculptors and engravers. It was founded in Great Britain, London in 1896 by miniature portrait artist Alyn Williams. In November 1995, the First World Miniature Exhibition was held in London to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters. There are many annual international exhibitions miniaturists in different cities of the world. And world miniature exhibitions are held once every five years on different continents, in which Russia not only takes part, but is also awarded memorable prizes, and Russian miniature artists with international certificates.

Miniature painting is an art form that is very rich in history, which continues today thanks to artists around the world.

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Fedoskino lacquer miniature

Fedoskino associates Russian lacquer painting with this word using oil paints. The fishery appeared in the village of Fedoskino near Moscow in the second half of the 18th century. The design was applied to papier-mâché products and then covered with several layers of varnish. The art of Fedoskino miniatures was started by the Russian merchant P.I. Korobov, who visited the German city of Braunschweig and adopted there technologies for creating snuff boxes, beads, boxes and other products decorated with picturesque pictures.

The process of making Fedoskino miniatures

The body of the box is made of papier-mâché, which is based on pure wood cardboard. The product is soaked in hot linseed oil, then dried in an oven at high temperature. The box is primed and sanded until a completely smooth surface is obtained. They are coated several times with black and with red varnish on the inside. In total, the entire process takes from 4 to 6 months!!!

Boxes made using this technology do not warp, do not dry out and last a very, very long time. Fedoskino lacquer miniatures are painted with oil paints in four steps: first, a sketch of the drawing is made ("painting"), then detailed study ("painting"), glazing - covering with transparent paints, the last process is highlighting, which conveys highlights and shadows in the image. The Fedoskino drawing technique involves the use of an underpainting layer of reflective components: gold leaf, metal powder or gold leaf. In some cases, the master can make a lining from mother-of-pearl. Transparent glaze paints together with the lining create a unique deep glow effect. The colorful layer is emphasized by a black background.

Mstera miniature

Mstera was called that by the Russians folk craft, which appeared in the mid-18th century in the Vladimir province. It all started with “petty letters” - miniature icons with drawings the smallest details. After the revolution of 1917, when there was no longer a need for icon painting, the craftsmen switched to boxes and boxes made of papier-mâché. The drawing was applied with tempera paints mixed with egg yolks. By the middle of the 20th century, the master's lacquer miniature technologies were finally formed. The village of Mstera, freely spread out on the hilly right bank of the Klyazma River, 110 kilometers from ancient Vladimir to the side Nizhny Novgorod. In the past, it was the Epiphany churchyard of the Romodan inheritance, which was part of the Starodub principality. In the 17th century, from which historical evidence about Mstera begins, it was already a vibrant craft and trading village - the Bogoyavlenskaya settlement. Lack of land forced people to turn to crafts and crafts: icon painting, embroidery, lace-making, embossing and making popular prints.

After the split in Russian Orthodox Church Under Patriarch Nikon, part of the settlement’s inhabitants were Old Believers, which had a significant influence on the nature of Mstera icon painting. In one of her directions, she constantly gravitated towards imitation of ancient models, towards their direct repetition. Masters with desire and knowledge of the matter created icons in ancient styles - Novgorod, Moscow and Stroganov. Based on a deep knowledge of ancient letters, the art of restoration was widely developed in Mstera ancient Russian painting.

The basis for the development of Mstera lacquer miniatures was the local icon painting traditions that existed here since late XVII century.

Icon painting originated in Epiphany monastery in the 17th century and by the middle of the 18th century it spread in Bogoyavlenskaya Sloboda, becoming one of the main occupations of its male population. Gradually, rather large workshops of icon painters grew from small family productions. Icon painting style of the Epiphany Settlement of the 18th-19th centuries. was determined by the requests of the Old Believers, who sought to preserve the ancient Russian icon-painting tradition: the iconography of ancient Novgorod, Moscow of the 16th century and the Russian North - the so-called “northern (Pomeranian) letters” - was considered exemplary. Icons of this trend are characterized by a restrained dark color, exquisite planar ornamental compositions that cover the icon board like a carpet, and a moderate use of gold for detailing.

TO early XIX V. Icons from the masters of the Epiphany Settlement were sold throughout Russia, as well as in other Orthodox countries - Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria.

A major role in the development of the art of Mstera icon painters was played by the scientist, educator and public figure Ivan Aleksandrovich Golyshev, a native of the serf peasants of the Epiphany Sloboda. In the late 1850s - early 1860s. He opened a rural lithography in the village of Sarskoye-Tatarovo near Mstera, where he printed popular prints and “Albums of Russian Antiquities.” Printed drawings on the themes of Russian fairy tales, songs, epics, and lives of saints were painted at home by women and children. I.A. Golyshev was engaged in collecting and studying ancient manuscripts, was a member of eight scientific societies in Russia, but the main work of his life was studying the history of the ancient Mstera icon painting craft, which reached mid-19th century of its greatest prosperity.

Manufacturing technology of Mstera miniatures

In the making performing skills Experience plays a huge role - repeated repetition of technical techniques of writing - which is developed on the basis of knowledge of the iconographic canon.

A canon is a certain traditional condition, characterized by its constancy and immutability. Plastic definiteness of forms, clear and precise elaboration of details are also of great importance. In ancient Russian painting, line played an outstanding role. IN best works In medieval icon painting, the line is always emotional, it vibrates, it lives. As a means of expressing artistic form, line is also determined by the canon. Any form must be limited by a linear contour, shadow or light painting.

Light painting represents a whitewash or cut-off contouring of a form in bright areas. Line and flow determine the structure of the shape of the spaces with their characteristic features in different icon painting schools. For example, in Novgorod letters the spaces are strict and laconic; in Stroganov ones they are more complex and united.

Melting is a painting technique in which this or that paint is mixed on a palette with white and then liquidly melted according to the main local color of the paint within a given shape. For example, gaps on the clothing of a human figure, the slides and slides.

The canon determines not only the nature of the form, but also its original constancy, the location of one or another boundary of the form, determining both the place where the shadow inventory should be and where the boundary of the light painting should be. The meaning of the canon is that it does not make it possible to depersonalize the artistic tradition and strives to keep it within the limits of the local style.

The canon also determines the sequence of the painting process, with each operation preceding the subsequent stage of execution from the very beginning to the end of the work. Consequently, the rational basis and the sensory principle are united by the integral and inseparable process of painting. All this is an important condition for understanding the features of Mstera art and mastering them in practice.

How is it built? technological process miniature painting? It all starts with a detailed line drawing, which is first done in pencil on paper. Then the drawing is very carefully transferred to tracing paper. Reverse side The tracing paper is rubbed with dry paint powder (usually brown), applied to the primed surface of a papier-mâché box, and transferred onto it using circling. A cipher is a needle with a smoothed point. It is usually mounted on a wooden rod holder.

After this, they begin to reveal the drawing with color, this process is called a special term - “reveal”. The opening determines the entire pictorial basis of the work as its preparatory stage. Revealing is a technological technique of painting during the primary layout of color within a given shape of the drawing.

Then the details of the drawing are sequentially modeled using shadow painting and near-contour shading.

The next stage of the painting process is to work in the light parts of the form. It consists of a whole series of half-tone melts, revives, splashes and glazes. A highlight is nothing more than a white mark in the lightest part of a finished form. Splashes are a tonal softening of color during the final modeling of a form. Glazing is a pictorial technique of working with liquid transparent paints, which enhances the depth of color tone or color.

At the last final stage, cutting is done with created gold or silver.

Kholuy miniature. Manufacturing technology

The making of the box is made by hand at all stages of its production. It all starts with making papier-mâché tubes that serve as the body of the box. The cardboard is wound in layers, pressed and boiled in linseed oil. This is a long and labor-intensive process, which in the future guarantees long years life of a work of lacquer miniature. After this, the finished tubes are polished, cut to the height of the future work, and the resulting semi-finished products are joined using natural-based glue. Then each edge is finally sanded.

	First, papier-mâché is made from wood cardboard. Cardboard cut into strips is wound onto blanks to shape the products.
	The blanks are primed. The boxes are primed with a mixture of linseed oil, soot and clay. And they prepare it for painting, varnishing it several times with black varnish on the outside and red on the inside. Moreover, each layer of varnish must dry for at least a day.
	Before applying a design to a product, the artist creates it on paper with a pencil, then transfers it to tracing paper. The reverse side of the drawing on tracing paper is rubbed with dry chalk or whitewash and applied to the surface of the object. The drawing is traced along the contour, after which a clear imprint remains. Since black varnish absorbs the brightness of the paint, the artist whitewashes the surface and the drawing then looks like a light silhouette.
	The very recipe for making paints used in Kholui for properly prepared paints is one of the components successful work artist when creating lacquer miniatures. The artist makes and selects paints individually. The paint base is mineral powder, which is ground together with egg yolk, water and vinegar.
	They draw on a special stand. The ornament is made with specially prepared gold leaf with the addition of cherry resin, which gives the Kholuy lacquer miniature originality and uniqueness. The Kholuy artist works with the finest squirrel brushes. Gold leaf is polished with a wolf's tooth. And after that - varnishing again, at least five times, and polishing.

Since the Abbasid era, miniature painting has become widespread. Despite the prohibition of Islam to depict living creatures, miniatures have become a favorite genre of art.

The earliest miniatures are considered to be illustrated manuscripts on astronomy, medicine, botany and history, created in Baghdad at the end of the 12th - mid-13th centuries. They are usually referred to as Baghdad, or Arab-Mesopotamian, school of painting, the style of which is characterized linear pattern and conditional display of a specific environment. For example, one or two trees meant a garden, and the confrontation between two warriors meant a battle. The figures of people were shown in motion, which was achieved thanks to precisely captured gestures - hugs, handshakes, animated gestures during conversation. Faces with large noses were most often depicted in profile, and eyes were always in front, which made the faces very similar to each other. Animals were depicted most vividly: fleet-footed horses, light-footed fallow deer, sleeping near tents or camels grazing in the desert.

Color solution Arab-Mesopotamian miniatures are distinguished by a predominance of ocher-brown tones with bright spots of green, faded blue, brick red, lilac, black, white, as well as dimly shimmering gold. An example of a miniature of this school is the illustrations for the manuscript “Maqam” (see color incl.) - a collection of short picaresque stories about the adventures of the adventurer and poet Abu Zayd, who was called “the father of lies and deceit.”

Conquest of Iran and Iraq by the Mongols in the mid-13th century. led to the emergence of new schools of miniature painting with dynastic names - Timurid, Safavid, Mughal. However, their geographical division into Iranian And Central Asian, within which local schools were named after cultural centers states. The Iranian school includes Tabriz, Shiraz, Herat, etc., the Central Asian school includes Samarkand, Bukhara, etc. Each school developed its own canons for depicting people, nature and architecture.

The Iranian school of miniatures originated in Tabriz, and the stages of its development are associated with the ruling dynasties of the Hulaguids, Timurids and Safavids. The most characteristic features Tabriz school The Hulaguid era is a combination of a real image and an ornament: flowers, grass, trees, birds on branches, animals with vividly captured habits are conveyed in an unusually naturalistic way, and at the same time their silhouettes form a colorful ornamental pattern. These are, for example, miniatures from “Manafi al-Hayawan” (a book about animals), which depict hunting, playing, and resting elephants, lions, and bears. Strips of grass, bushes and trees with birds sitting on their branches give the feeling of a real landscape. Meanwhile, beige-yellow, orange-red or violet-gray figures of animals, brown tree branches shaded with gold, green leaves and grass, red, orange, yellow fruits and flowers, occupying almost the entire format of the sheet, create a unique ornament.

The images of people showed Chinese influence, associated with the fact that the Mongol army carried Chinese artisans and painters with them. It appeared in an elongated format, which resembled the horizontal scrolls of Chinese painting; in a graphic manner of execution of mountains, piled up with steep ledges, whimsically bending trunks and branches, clouds twisted into a complex pattern; in individualizing images and endowing them with expression and drama.

We find a combination of “Sinicisms” with emphasized decorativeness in the most grandiose monument of the Tabriz school of miniatures of the 13th-14th centuries. -Great Tabriz “Shah-name” of Ferdowsi. The overwhelming majority of the images traditionally depict the hero’s exploits in the fight against enemies and fantastic monsters. In addition to scenes of hunting, martial arts and military battles, there are scenes of burial and mourning of the dead, where the characters are endowed individual traits, feelings and experiences. The miniatures of the Great Tabriz “Shah-name” are unusually decorative and resemble a carpet ornament: warriors in red, orange, light brown clothes and shiny armor gallop on piebald, brown, black horses across green lawns, above which stretches a dark blue sky with a golden shimmer a myriad of stars.

The pictorial school of Tabriz miniature, which developed under the Safavids, was based, on the one hand, on already existing traditions, and on the other hand, on the experience of Herat artists. The influence of Herat art was reflected in the emergence of illusory depth and narrative. This is the composition and style of the miniature from Arifi’s manuscript “Dervish with broken ball"(see color on).

Against the background of a lawn, covered, as if with strokes, with bushes of grass and framed by hills and trees, a dervish, a Muslim mendicant monk, sadly bent over a broken ball.