什麼是細密畫

小型、精描細繪的畫，通常爲肖像畫，用水彩畫在羊皮紙、撲克牌、銅版或象牙板上，能拿在手裏或作爲珠寶佩戴。名稱出自「鉛丹」一詞，以強調中世紀彩飾手抄本的首字母。結合了彩飾和對文藝復興的紀念，細密畫從16世紀早期到19世紀中期長盛不衰。可考的最早的作品由克盧埃在法國法蘭西斯一世的宮廷中完成。在英國，小霍爾拜因在亨利八世的宮廷中創作了許多細密畫名作，影響了繪畫實踐的長期傳統，被稱爲「肖像畫」。希利雅德則爲伊莉莎白一世當了三十多年的細密肖像畫師。17～18世紀在法國流行用瓷漆在金屬上作畫。義大利的卡列拉採用象牙板作爲透明顏料的發光面（1700?），大大刺激了這一畫法在18世紀後期的復興。到19世紀中期，細密畫被認爲是奢侈品，並且由於攝影這個新方法的出現而顯得過時了。

miniature painting

Small, detailed painting, usually a portrait, executed in watercolor on vellum (parchment), prepared card, copper, or ivory that can be held in the hand or worn as a piece of jewelry. The name derives from the minium, or red lead, used to emphasize initial letters in medieval illuminated manuscripts. Combining the traditions of illumination and the Renaissance medal, it flourished from the early 16th to the mid-19th century. The earliest datable examples were painted in France by Jean Clouet the Younger at the court of Francis I; in England, H. Holbein the Younger produced masterpieces in miniature under Henry VIII and inspired a long tradition of the practice, known as “limning.” Nicholas Hilliard served as miniature painter to Elizabeth I for more than 30 years. In the 17th-18th century, painting in enamel on metal became popular in France. In Italy Rosalba Carriera introduced the use of ivory (c. 1700) as a luminous surface for transparent pigments, stimulating a great revival of the medium in the late 18th century. By the mid-19th century, miniature paintings were regarded as luxury items and rendered obsolete by the new medium of photography.