Applications open for a Collaborative Doctoral Award on The Female Miniaturist

Portrait of Mary Ann Flaxman, attributed to Mary Ann Flaxman. Watercolour on ivory, circa 1820. 2 3/4 in. x 2 1/8 in. (70 mm x 54 mm) oval. National Portrait Gallery, purchased 1913. NPG 1715.

The University of Sheffield and the National Portrait Gallery are inviting applications for a Collaborative Doctoral Award on the subject of The Female Miniaturist 1680-1840: Recovering Lives, Practices and Representations.

Funded by the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH), this project investigates an overlooked aspect of female artistic practice: the portrait miniature. During the period 1680 to 1840, miniature production was increasingly dominated by women, yet there is no definitive study of the female miniaturist: her importance obscured by a focus on male counterparts, and her achievements sidelined by an increasingly institutionalised art world. In reconstructing the lives and practices of female miniaturists in the period, the project will draw on the National Portrait Gallery’s rich collection of miniatures and archival material as well as a range of literary and non-literary sources. The result will be an important contribution to the history of art and culture in the period.

The deadline for Expressions of Interest is noon on Wednesday 5 March 2025. Further details on the project and application process can be found here.