Miniatures and small portraits

A unique exhibit is accessible from the collection of the National Museum under this title in the beautiful Baroque Hall in the Lobkowitz Palace at the Prague Castle.

Presented there is one of the largest Czech collections of miniatures and small portraits, painted in the Czech Republic, in Austria, in France, in England, in Germany, in Italy, and in Russia, and that from the 16th to the 20th century. The collection is the first project in a long-term project, which should gradually make available for viewing a large and until now unknown collection of portraits in possession of the National Museum from their origin in 1818. The exhibited 436 items represent a choice from the whole, which until now has not been presented in such magnitude. While viewing the exhibit we learn what miniatures and small portraits really are, how they differ and what purpose they served. We have the possibility to recognize specifics of this artistic representation in various ways. We have the possibility to view peak works of art of the best Czech and other European miniatures and their similarities, their falsifications, and their ways of restoration. For this unique and individual exhibit of the last 10 years (Lobkowitz Palace at Prague Castle until March 31st, 2005), the National Museum printed a representative catalogue under the title “Painted Miniature Portraits”. The complete collection is expertly presented in the catalogue with 377 descriptions of portraits and enhanced by an appendix of colorful pictures (can be bought at the exhibit or at the main building in the National Museum.