Lady Caroline Lamb was one of four miniatures that my mother painted. These were another of her attempts to generate income branching out from her more traditional portrait painting. I also think she took it on as a personal challenge. The choice of subjects for her miniatures was inspired by a combination of her reading and looking for suitable subjects from the Regency period, the height of the miniaturists art. Lady Caroline Lamb was most well know form being the wife of the 2nd Viscount of Melbourne, William Lamb, who later went on to become Prime Minister of England but she was also the muse and mistress of Lord Byron, the poet and writer. Her wild nature and scandalous behavior left their mark in history. You can read a good summary of her life on the Regency History blog but for a more detailed reading of her background and life the first chapter of the Wives of the Prime Minister 1844-1906 is the best source. For more information about the affair with Lord Byron, the English History site has even more details, all fascinating reading.

Regarding the technique used to paint the miniatures, my mother showed me the brush she used which was a very simple wooden stick with a single small Woodcock’s pin-feather mounted in the end. When the feather would wear and become dull, she would use tweezers to stick a new one in its place. Apparently, this was the traditional favored brush of Victorian miniaturists. For the substrate of the painting, she used a product called Ivorine, a small sheet of Cellulose Nitrate that had the appropriate color and texture to simulate the ivory sheets used by miniaturists in earlier less enlightened times. Of course the traditional oval shape was the product of slicing those ivory tusks in cross section. Be sure to click on the image to see a greatly magnified view of the original.

The source image:

Untrimmed original: