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c. 1800

Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Miniature

Artist/maker unknown

This portrait of a young woman may have commemorated an engagement or marriage. Miniatures were very personal images and wearing them as a locket or broach was typically an expression of romantic love, parental affection, or mourning. In this image the woman's shy smile and jaunty dog-itself a symbol of fidelity-suggest a celebration of romantic love.

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Artist/maker unknown, Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Miniature, c. 1800 | Philadelphia Museum of Art