Miniature is a type of painting, the emergence of which is inextricably linked with the appearance, and subsequently, of full-fledged books. This technique is the prototype of modern illustration.

Most readers will assume that the miniature is so named because of its small size. In fact, the name comes from the Latin word minium. This was the name of the red paints that were used in the design of the first manuscripts. The drawings were indeed very small in size. At the same time, the artists sought to draw every detail on them with maximum accuracy.

Fragment of a Persian miniature, 17th century

Today in painting, the concept of “miniature” is applied to works of art of small forms, not only in painting, but also in sculpture and graphics.

Ancient artists painted miniatures with thin brushes or bird feathers. What did they depict in the small drawings? What was written about in books. Historical events, heroic figures, biblical stories and much more. In the 18th century, with the advent, its miniature version also appeared - small images on plates made of various materials.

Historians identify several schools of miniature painting. They belong to different parts of the world and have their own characteristic features. In Ancient Rus', manuscripts were decorated with beautiful miniatures, and the pages were covered with gilding. In Western European art, miniature painting flourished in the 13th-15th centuries. In addition to religious themes, the masters’ drawings include scenes of battles and scenes from secular life.

Indian miniature

Oriental artists became real masters in this type of painting. Masterpieces of art are miniatures from Persia, the work of artists from India and the Mongol Empire.

Experts divide miniatures into several types.

Portrait miniature - small format images gained great popularity in the 18th century. Portraits of small sizes could be combined with jewelry, taken with you on military campaigns and travels, and stored in a treasured place.

Portrait miniature

Illumination is a medieval technique used for painting religious manuscripts. It is distinguished by a variety of colors due to the use of special paints.

Ushakov's Dictionary

Miniature

miniature and miniature, miniatures, wives(from lat. minium - cinnabar, red lead) ( claim).

1. A capital letter painted with paints or a small drawing in paints in an ancient manuscript ( Philol.). Manuscript with miniatures.

2. A small painting, the finishing of which is distinguished by care, subtlety and grace.

| only units, collected Such pictures are like a kind of painting. Miniature art.

3. trans. A work of art of small size, small shape. Theater of miniatures. Collection of musical miniatures.

The medieval world in terms, names and titles

Miniature

(from lat. minium - cinnabar, red lead) - a small pictorial image, illustration in a handwritten book. Initial letters or the first lines of medieval manuscripts were written in red paint, which is why the image in these books began to be called m. During the Middle Ages in Byzantium, as well as in Western countries. In Europe, book publishing has reached great perfection.

Culturology. Dictionary-reference book

Miniature

(fr. miniature, lat. minium - cinnabar, red lead) - a work of art (usually a painting) of small size, distinguished by a particularly subtle manner of applying paint. Initially, miniatures were illustrations, initials, headpieces, etc. made in gouache, watercolor and other paints. in handwritten books. The art of book miniatures reached high perfection in medieval European, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Iranian and Indian culture. The name “miniature” was also applied to small-format painting (mainly portraiture), executed on bone, parchment, cardboard, metal, porcelain, and often on household objects - snuff boxes, watches, rings. Miniature takes place in literature, theater, music, stage - the so-called. genre of “small forms”. The repertoire of miniature theaters is based on miniatures.

Dictionary of musical terms

Miniature

(it. miniatura) - a small musical piece. The flourishing of miniatures is associated with the work of F. Schubert, F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, F. Chopin. The miniature genre is also common in modern music.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language (Alabugina)

Miniature

Y, and.

1. A small drawing in paints or a painted capital letter in ancient manuscripts and books.

* The manuscript is decorated with miniatures. *

2. A small painting or portrait of fine workmanship.

* Elegant miniature. *

3. A short literary or musical work.

* Essay-miniature. Miniatures by Chopin. *

♦ In miniature. In a reduced size.

Design. Glossary of terms

Miniature

MINIATURE (French Miniature, Italian Miniatura; from lat. Minium – cinnabar, red lead)– in fine arts: a colored or monochrome drawing made on the pages of a handwritten book for the purpose of illustrating text and decoration. In the history of art, miniatures at times played a significant role (Western European Middle Ages, Byzantium, India, Iran, Central Asia, Azerbaijan). In Ancient Rus', book miniatures have been known for a long time. Until the end of the 14th century. it was performed on parchment, mainly with egg paints.

encyclopedic Dictionary

Miniature

(French miniature, from Latin minium - cinnabar, red lead),

1. a work of art (usually a painting) of small size, distinguished by a particularly subtle manner of applying paint. Initially, miniatures were the name given to illustrations, initials, headpieces, etc., made in gouache, watercolors, and other colors in handwritten books. The art of book miniatures reached a high degree of perfection in medieval European, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Iranian and Indian culture. Name "miniature" switched to painting (mainly portraiture) in small format, executed on bone, parchment, cardboard, paper, metal, porcelain, and often on household objects - snuff boxes, watches, rings. For miniatures on varnish products, see Artistic varnishes.
2. In literature, theater, music, circus, on stage - genre "small forms", a small-sized work (story, play, vaudeville, sideshow, sketch, conversational, choreographic, vocal or musical skit, variety or clown reprise, etc.). The repertoire of miniature theaters is based on miniatures.

Ozhegov's Dictionary

MINIAT YU RA, s, and.

1. A small drawing in paints in an old manuscript or book.

2. A small painting of careful and elegant finishing, with a subtle application of paint. Miniatures on paper, on porcelain, on bone. Watercolor miniatures.

3. A dramatic or musical work of short form (eg interlude, sketch, reprise). Theater of miniatures. Orchestral miniatures.

4. An elegant product in a very small size. Book-m.

Postal miniatures pictures, drawings on postage stamps.

In miniature in a small form, reduced in size.

| adj. miniature, oh, oh. Miniature painting. Miniature technology.

Efremova's Dictionary

Miniature

1. and.
   1. A small drawing or headband, made in paint, in an old manuscript or book.
   2. :
      1. A pictorial work - a painting, a portrait, etc. - small in size, distinguished by the elegance of the design and careful finishing.
      2. A type of painting characterized by such works.
   3. :
      1. Genre of small forms (in literature, theater, music, circus, on stage).
      2. A work of this genre.

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Miniature

The name given to colorful pictures, headpieces, curly capital letters, ornamented page frames and, in general, illustrations of ancient manuscripts. This name comes from “minium” - red paint (cinnabar or red lead), which ancient calligraphers used to color initials and mark headings in their manuscripts. Decorating manuscripts with drawings was known in ancient times, among the Chinese, Indians, Persians and other eastern peoples. It was also used very often by the Egyptians, from whom many papyrus scrolls with hieroglyphic text and painted figures and ornaments scattered among it have come down to us. However, art first received the significance of a special artistic branch only from the Greeks. They transferred it, along with other fruits of their civilization, to Rome, where, since the time of Augustus, the custom of providing luxurious lists of fictional and scientific works with polychrome drawings serving as an explanation of the text especially spread. Unfortunately, such illustrated manuscripts dating back to the flourishing era of Rome have not survived, and the oldest that have survived to this day are M., such as, for example, those contained in two manuscripts of the works of Virgil (in the Vatican library in Rome) and Homer’s Iliad ( in the Ambrosian Library in Milan) belong to the later period of Roman art, III-V centuries. after Christ. After Christianity triumphed over paganism, it was natural that m. began to be used on a wide scale to decorate liturgical books, home prayer books, and generally manuscripts of religious and instructive content. At the same time, she initially remained faithful to the principles and spirit of ancient art; the circle of ideas that provided her with content changed, new subjects appeared, the reproduction of which became her calling, but the nature of her drawing, composition techniques and methods of technical execution did not differ significantly from those that M. adhered to in the last days of paganism. It was especially cultivated in the new capital of the empire, Byzantium, where its successes were greatly facilitated by the presence of a magnificent court and the love of splendor and luxury both in high secular society and in the clergy, and where, due to these reasons, the influence of the East and other conditions of local life, it was little gradually took on a peculiar style, known as Byzantine (see Byzantine art). As examples of early Byzantine manuscripts with M., still close in composition, design and manner of execution to works of ancient art, one can point to the parchment scroll of the history of Joshua stored in the Vatican library, dating back to the 7th or 8th century, but in which the illustrations are undoubtedly the essence copies from M. more distant antiquity, on a fragment of the book of Genesis of the 6th century and the writings of the physician Dioscorides, 5th-6th centuries, belonging to the Vienna Public Library, and from later monuments of this kind - on the “Topography” of Cosmas Indicopleustos (VIII-IX centuries; in the Vatican library) , sermons of St. Gregory of Nazianza (IX century; in the Paris library), “The Menaion of the Fourth” of Emperor Basil II (X-XI centuries; in the Vienna library) and much more.

While art flourished in Byzantium, in Italy it was in decline, sharing in this respect the fate of other branches of art. The illustration of manuscripts in the said country after its conquest by the Lombards for a long time consisted of rough, painted sketches, representing a childishly inept reproduction of distorted early Christian samples and motifs or an equally inept imitation of Byzantine drawings. At the beginning of the medieval era, Mexico was even more barbaric on the other side of the Alps, in Germany, France and Britain. The production of manuscripts at this time was carried out mainly in monasteries. The copyist of the manuscript (scriptor) sometimes took upon himself the decoration of it with drawings, but more often he left their execution to one of his comrades, more skilled in this matter and called an illuminator, a miniator, or simply a painter. Having lost the ability to see and reproduce the forms of nature, having almost no idea about the design of the human body, the miniators of the West, in contrast to the Byzantine ones, were mainly concerned with filling manuscripts with intricate headpieces and initials and relatively rarely dared to depict scenes based on subjects from the text. Their works, which thus can be more rightly attributed to calligraphy than to painting in the real sense of the word, were generally ungraceful, sometimes ugly; but through their wildness in the 7th century, a living, fresh element began to break through, giving rise to a new, completely original style, which soon established itself not only in M., but throughout the ornamentation of the Romanesque period. This element owes its origin to the Celtic tribe that inhabited Ireland. It appears for the first time as a folk element in the materials of manuscripts produced in numerous and rich monasteries of this country. From here he moved to Anglo-Saxon M., and from England, through the mediation of Irish monks, he penetrated to the mainland of Europe. In the initials and page borders this Irish and Anglo-Saxon ornamentation presents something extremely peculiar and at the same time beautiful; it consists chiefly of pen drawings, illuminated with various colours, and forming ribbons, curls, crosses and circles, drawn with a bold and steady hand; curved lines sometimes bend and intertwine with each other so intricately and deftly that one cannot help but recognize the great talent and skill behind the miniators. The heads of birds and dragons biting each other, or other fantastic animals are often introduced into the play of lines, which, however, are interpreted entirely in the nature of the ornament. Deciding to depict a human figure as an ingredient in an initial or as an independent illustration, the miniator looks at his task again from the point of view of an ornamentist, without the slightest concern about conveying nature, as if even with a deliberate distortion of its forms: his faces appear ugly, lifeless, drawn as a calligraphy exercise; the mouth takes the shape of a curl with an angle in the middle, pointed downwards; the nose is drawn in the form of a rod, bounded on the sides by straight lines and ending at the bottom with two regular spirals instead of nostrils, etc. The clothes on the figures are also executed without the slightest plausibility, with contours and fold lines that have the character of calligraphic strokes. The colors in the initials and headpieces sometimes present very successful and beautiful combinations, but in the images of human figures they are striking in an extremely strange contradiction with the colors of reality. For example, in one of the four gospels of the Saint-Galen monastery (in Switzerland), a colony of Irish monks, the hands of the crucified Savior are made red and the feet blue. Of the Irish and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts with M., the most interesting, in addition to the above mentioned, are the Psalter of St. Augustine (VI century), stored in the British Museum in London, the Gospel of St. Kutberga (VII century, in the same museum), a manuscript of the same content in the Trinity College in Dublin (VI or early 7th century), the Four Gospels of St. Vilibrod (in the Paris Public Library, early 8th century) and some of the manuscripts from the library of the above-mentioned Swiss monastery, which is generally extremely rich in such monuments.

MINIATURE I.

1. From the Viennese Book of Genesis. 2. From an Irish manuscript. 3. From the S. Gallen "Golden Psalter". 4. Curly capital letter of the 12th century. 5. From a French manuscript of the 15th century. 6. From an Italian manuscript of the 15th century.

MINIATURE II.

Fig. 1. From the Irish manuscript of the Trinity College in Dublin (Book of Kells), late 6th or early 7th centuries. Fig. 2. From the Frederic Gospel, in the Vienna court library (IX century).

The Irish style, having been transferred to France, Germany and northern Italy, lost many of its sharp features, since in these countries it was not national and next to it, ancient traditions and Byzantine models influenced art more strongly than in the British Isles. In initials and headpieces, the motifs of this style in the 8th century began to change from the admixture of Latin and Byzantine ones, and images of individual figures, for example, evangelists, prophets, the Savior, allegorical personifications of rivers, the sea, etc., appeared more and more often in manuscripts, and in the 9th century, miniators already boldly took on the task of reproducing complex scenes. Under Charlemagne and his immediate successors, M. achieved significant prosperity for that era, thanks to the patronage provided to it by the sovereigns and the proliferation of calligraphic schools (scriptoria) in monasteries. This is evidenced by the numerous surviving manuscripts of that time, stored in various libraries. The most important among them are: the gospel made by the painter Godescalc in 781 and known as “Les heures de Charlemagne” (in the Paris Public Library), the gospel of the Abbey of St. Medara (ibid.), the so-called Codex aur é us (in the city library of Trier), the Wissobrunn manuscript of the legend of St. Cross (in the Munich court library), the Gospel of Lothair I (in the Paris Public Library), the Golden Psalter (in the library of the St. Gallen monastery), the Bible of Charles the Bald (in the sacristy of the church of S. Paolo Fuori le Mura, in Rome) and some others. In the M. of these manuscripts, the ornaments represent a combination of ancient motifs with Irish and Byzantine ones, the initial letters are a confusion of cunningly and tastefully intertwined colored straps and ribbons on a colored or golden field, with the heads of unprecedented birds and animals, with leaves and stems of unprecedented plants. As for the facial images, we see in them an increasingly deteriorating antique style and motifs; in the type of some heads, in the greenish background of the body, in the golden shading of the draperies, the Byzantine influence is noticeable; the colors and their shading echo the late Roman style; the general impression of color is brightly variegated. But the features that distinguish these works from both Byzantine and Irish are greater smoothness of lines, mobility, roundness in figures and draperies, and liveliness of composition. Immediately after the death of Charles the Bald (877), the art of M. in France began to decline, but in Germany, to which, in all likelihood, it was brought by the Lorraine monks of the Metz and Prüm schools, it found strong support among the emperors of the Saxon house and diligent cultivation in monastery workshops specially established for him. The sacristy of the Guildensgey Cathedral, the Bamberg city and Munich court libraries contain many manuscripts from the time of the Ottonians, in terms of the abundance and luxury of illustrations they are not inferior to similar monuments of the Carolingian era. In most of these illustrations, the love for the work and the technical skill of the artists are visible, but the drawing of figures in them gets worse. Only in the 12th century was a turn for the better noticed, marking the transition from the Romanesque style to the Gothic. Byzantine legends are not completely forgotten, but they weaken to a significant extent in the memory of artists, who begin to be guided primarily by their own feelings, their own awakening attraction to nature, look closely at its forms and phenomena, reproduce it from memory, without, however, daring to directly copy from her. In their drawings, all the faces, with the exception of God the Father, Christ, the Mother of God, the apostles, prophets and patriarchs, whom it has been customary since ancient times to dress in ideal attire, appear in the costumes of that time. The figures become elongated, thin, flexible. Their poses are more or less refined, forced, but in general terms natural, bold and not devoid of a kind of grace. The faces take on a shade of youth and freshness; their expression is sometimes dreamy and sentimental, sometimes smiling and breathing happiness. Clothing tends to outline the shapes of figures, forms narrow, beautifully broken folds, falls from the legs and lies near their feet. Instead of the golden background, which previously surrounded the figures almost constantly, backgrounds in the form of a chessboard made up of gold and colored squares, or in the form of a carpet with a motley floral and foliage pattern are now beginning to become favored. Among the manuscripts with M., relating to this transitional period from romance to Gothic, the most important is “Hortus deliciarum”, written by Abbess Gerrarda von Landsberg in 1159-1175. (unfortunately, she died in a fire in the Strasbourg library in 1870), the German “Aeneid” by Heinrich von Waldeck, made around 1200 (in the Berlin Public Library), “The Life of Mary”, a poem by Wehringer Tegersee, 1173 (ibid. ), "Plenarium" of Abbess Agnes, 1184-1203. (in the Quedlinburg city library), "Evangelary" by Godegard of Guildensheim, late 12th century (in the cathedral library in Trier) and some others.

In the early Gothic era, France again stood ahead of other countries in the field of miniature painting, and its illustrators of manuscripts or, as they were called then, "enlumineurs" (enlumineurs) were famous everywhere. Their art went hand in hand with learning, the main center of which was Paris. They produced a mass of manuscripts with M., distinguished by very skillful technique, delicacy and elegance of finishing. Gothic provided certain architectural fundamental principles for such works and reflected in them the style of its sculpture; Painting on glass, which was held in high esteem at that time, also had an influence on them. The most interesting illustrated French manuscripts of this time are considered to be the Psalter, believed to have been made for King Louis the Saint (in the Paris Public Library) and the Book of Hours of the same sovereign (ibid.). In Germany, during the era under review, M. served a dual purpose - to illustrate not only religious and liturgical books, but also works of a secular nature, such as the works of the Minnesingers and chivalric romances. When it came to illustrating the gospels, psalms and prayer books, the fantasy of the miniators, of course, was contained within the well-known boundaries of dogma and iconographic traditions; but her impulse towards freedom found its outcome in the secondary decorations of manuscripts, such as headpieces, initials, page frames and religious images themselves. This impulse often led artists to paint fantastic and humorous figures and scenes, completely in the spirit of Gothic ornamental sculpture. M. in religious manuscripts were usually executed with great luxury, gold and paints, while in secular works they were done mainly in the same lines, with light shading and sometimes without paints at all. The freshness of their concept and naive spontaneity are quite consistent with the nature of the poetry they illustrate. As particularly thorough M. of this kind, one can point to those contained in the manuscript of “Tristan” by Gottfried of Strasbourg (in the Munich Royal Library) and in the “Weingartner Codex of the Minnesingers” (in the Württemberg Public Library).

A further and, moreover, significant step forward was taken by M. everywhere at the beginning of the 14th century, when instead of pen drawings, illuminated with paints without the proper nuances, real pictures appeared, executed with a brush and gouache, indicating highlights, shadows and halftones. The proportions of the figures remain too elongated, and their poses are cutesy; the draperies still convey movement in an exaggerated way and are broken by sharp, dry folds characteristic of Gothic sculptures, but the drawing generally becomes more correct, the motifs of the images are more attractive, the coloring - still very flowery - is more harmonious and natural. Artists discarded their colorful ornamented backgrounds and began (primarily in the Netherlands) to depict events in a room setting, trying to convey the perspective depth of the scene, and then placing the action against a blue sky with suitable landscape and architectural settings. The production of manuscripts, ceasing to be an occupation exclusively of monks and monastic workshops, is becoming a very widespread profession of the laity, among whom calligraphers and draftsmen appear in large numbers, satisfying the growing demand for luxurious illustrated prayer books and reading books at the courts of nobles and in high society. In the second half of the 14th century, such masters were especially patronized in France by King Charles V and his brothers, Dukes John of Berry and Philip the Bold of Burgundy. From their collections come many magnificent manuscripts stored in the Paris Public Library (such as, for example, “Les grandes heures” and the Psalter of Duke John and the so-called “Belleville Missal”) and scattered throughout other book depositories in Western Europe. The brilliant successes of painting in general, which marked the 15th century in Italy and the Netherlands, could not remain without influence on M. In the works of manuscript illustrators, just as in easel and wall paintings of this time, the aspirations of artists are more and more reflected to peer into nature and reproduce its forms and phenomena with possible truth. The choice of subjects for M. and their processing become more diverse and free, not bound by any legends and more clearly reflecting the artist’s individuality; the composition acquires greater naturalness, the drawing becomes correct and smooth, the color becomes close to the tones of nature and harmony, and the ornamentation of letters and headpieces becomes graceful and nobility. "Missale" of the Duke of Betford (in the British Museum in London), "Brevary" that belonged to him (in the Paris Public Library), "Miscellaneous" of the Burgundian Dukes (in the Royal Library of Brussels), "Chronicle" of Gennegous (ibid.), prayer book of Anne of Brittany ( in the Louvre Museum), the Bible of the Hungarian King Matthew Corvinus (in the Vatican Library in Rome) and many other magnificent manuscripts testify to the high state of miniature painting during the 15th century.

The invention of printing dealt M. a severe blow, but did not kill her immediately. When the first woodcut books with pictures were published, such as, for example, “The Bible of the Poor,” “The Mirror of Salvation,” “Ars moriendi,” etc., in addition to ordinary copies of these works, a number of those were published in which polytype drawings were colored; expensive books printed on parchment appeared with engravings, illustrated so subtly and carefully that it is sometimes difficult at first glance to distinguish them from real M. Moreover, in early printed books the title page was often painted with paints, and empty spaces were left in the text, on which pictures and ornamented capital letters were then drawn by hand. For a long time, miniature painting supplied the royal and princely libraries with luxurious manuscripts and continued to improve, keeping up with the general forward movement of the descriptive arts. At the beginning of the 16th century, she already possessed all the technical means available to her, and at this time of her full development, the most excellent of her works appeared, such as, for example, illustrations of the “Breviary” by Cardinal Grimani, executed by the Ghent painter G. Gorebout (in the library of St. Mark in Venice), the “Missala” of Cardinal Farnese, compiled by G. Clovio (in the Neapolitan library), etc. However, the gradual successes of printing, woodcuts and copper engravings eventually forced M. out of use in books and forced the artists who worked on it to turn your work to other tasks - to the execution of small, finely crafted portraits, pictures on the lids of snuff boxes, decorations on fans, etc. Thus, a special kind of painting arose in the 17th century, borrowing from its predecessor, book illustration, the name “miniature” . Painters specially engaged in this branch of art have since adopted the epithet “miniaturists.” Enjoying great respect everywhere, M. attracted outstanding artistic talents until the invention of photography reduced the demands on her works, and then abolished it almost completely. Among the miniaturists, the following deserved particular fame: K. Klingstedt, nicknamed “Snuffbox Raphael” (1657-1734), Genevan Arlo († in 1688), Italian Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), J.-B. Masse (1687-1767), Swedish native P. A. Gal (1739-1794), von Blarenberg (born at the end of the 18th century), Mirbel, née Lizinskaya (born in 1799). ), J.-B. Isabey (1767-1855), J.-B.-J. Duchesne de Gissard (1770-1855) and some others.

In ancient times, paintings were executed, apparently, using the encaustic method or something close to it, and in the Middle Ages - with paints diluted on egg white, egg yolk, gum or glue, and gilding was done using sheet gold or powder of this metal and a brush. The newest works are written with watercolors, very finely ground paints, on smooth or fine-grained, well-glued paper, on specially prepared tablets of some dense wood, on enameled metal plates, and most often on ivory and parchment. The miniaturist, whom the delicacy of the work forces him to almost constantly look at it through a magnifying glass, works with a very thin brush, dotting or shading the body parts of the image with its tip and using it to paint the drapery and background with the usual technique of gouache painting, and sometimes extending the dotted line to all parts of the painting. .

Wed. Aug. comte de Bastard, "Peintures et ornem ents des manuscrits... pour servir à l"histoire des arts du dessin depuis le IV sc. de l"ere chrétienne jusqu"à la fin du XVI sc." (P., 1835 et seq.); N. Reuss, "Sammlung d. sch önsten Miniaturen des Mittelalters aus den XIV-XV Jahrhundert" (B., 1867); J.-F. Denis, "Histoire de l"ornamentation des manuscrits" (P., 1847); F. W. Unger, “La miniature irlandaise, son origine et son dé veloppement” (in “Revue Celtique”, P., 1870); F.H.v. d. Hagen, “Handschriftengem älde und andere bildliche Denkmäler der deutschen D ichter des XII-XIV Jahrhundert” (B., 1853); B. Bucher, "Geschichte der technischen Künste" (I volume, Stuttgart, 1875); A. Lecoy de la Marche, “Les manuscrits et la miniature” (one of the volumes of Canten’s “Biblioth è que de l”enseignement des beaux-arts”) and so on.

A. S-v.

Russian language dictionaries

Speaking about what a miniature is, it is necessary to look into the distant past.

Headpieces and title pages from ancient manuscript books

As dictionaries and encyclopedias tell us, a very long time ago, when there was no printing yet, and the gospels and lives of saints were copied by hand, these handwritten books were decorated with illustrations, headpieces and images made in bright colors. Covers, endpapers and books were also decorated.

From the Latin root minium, which was translated as “cinnabar, red lead” - red paint - came the word miniature, which meant bright, small-scale pictures. Those first miniatures, which today are historical monuments, have reached their contemporaries.

An example of the answer to the question of what a miniature is in ancient times is the screensaver from the Ostromir Gospel of 1057 - this is one of the most ancient books that have come down to us.

Miniature in Fedoskino style

Gradually, the meaning of the word shifted according to the size of the object. Today, when asked what a miniature is, everyone will answer that it is something very small, but beautiful. And this happened due to the fact that in the 18th century a variety of objects of art began to appear, having extremely small sizes, but made with special care, subtlety and grace.

For example, in the village of Fedoskino, the merchant Korobov organized visor production in 1795. A few years later, inspired by a visit to Johann Stobwasser's factory in Braunschweig, Korobov reorganized his production. Now they are starting to produce small papier-mâché products - snuff boxes, thimbles, boxes, beads, which are decorated with engravings, paintings and varnished.

During these years, the answer to the question “what is a miniature” was: “Small, elegantly painted paintings.” Fedoskino painting was highly valued in past centuries. It depicted scenes from rural life: tea parties, folk festivals and festivities, romantic dates. A group of talented artists still follow the traditions of the Fedoskino painting style, and miniatures continue to be created, delighting and delighting connoisseurs of fine art.

Sculptures in tiny bottles

So, the meaning of the word miniature today is a work of any type of art, distinguished by grace, careful execution and extremely small size.

Interesting in this regard are the works of the Japanese artist-sculptor Akinobu Izumu, who surprises the world with his unsurpassed talented miniature sculptures in tiny bottles.

In a transparent cone 22 mm high and 12 mm wide, Akinobu manages to embody a whole world! A tiny bicycle and the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus, tiny figures of lovers and a bench that is smaller than a match head, placed in a surprisingly small transparent container, cannot leave any viewer indifferent.

Miniature books

Even more amazing are the tiny books that are made by real craftsmen. You can read something in them only when using a very strong magnifying glass. Some books fit in walnut shells, others are stored in ring boxes.

Actually, why be surprised when everyone has been familiar with the tale of Lefty since early childhood. Yes, Russian masters are jacks of all trades!

Literary miniatures

Gradually, the word “miniature” penetrated into other areas of art, for example, music and literature. Based on the same criteria - small form, grace and careful execution - many works began to be called miniatures.

Short stories, laconic in volume, but extremely capacious in content, are called literary miniatures. Often in miniatures there is practically no action, but there is only a sketch, a picture. But, using the capacity of images, comparisons, epithets, the author creates an entire human destiny in a few phrases.

“She sat alone on a bench, and cold streams of rain flowed down her cheeks. There, in the house, music was playing, young people, full of strength and health, were having fun. One of them was her son...

The people in the house sang and danced, drank wine and ate hot, aromatic chicken. And she sat alone on the bench - she had no place in their circle. Cold streams of rain flowed down her cheeks, and an evil wind blew a lonely dry leaf along the road... Just as lonely and useless to anyone now...”

Miniature fairy tales

Small tales occupy a special place in literature; they are also called miniatures. Usually these are fairy tales for the little ones, because it is still difficult for them to listen and understand a major work. These include classic folk tales such as “Hen Ryaba”, “Turnip”, “Kolobok”, “Terem-Teremok”, “Snow Maiden”, “Winter Hut of Animals”, “Mashenka and the Bear”, “Three Bears” and others. It is they who make up the golden fund of literature for very young children. Books for children are often in small format, confirming their belonging to miniatures - sort of tiny baby books, as they are often called.

The term miniature (from the Latin minium - paint used by ancient masters when creating small illustrations in manuscripts) has several meanings and is used in different fields.

Let's look at what a miniature is.

Genre of fine art

The term was first used in this area of ​​art. A miniature in painting is a small colorful drawing in old books. This is also the name for paintings in a small format, distinguished by their elegance and special subtlety of finishing (portrait miniature).

Example of use: Miniatures by modern artists amaze with their careful depiction of details.

Literary genre

The term was borrowed from painting into literary criticism. A miniature is a dramatic or lyric-epic work of small volume. Miniatures include prose poems, essays, and short stories.

Example: A literary competition for miniatures on various topics has been announced.

In theater and music

A miniature in the theater is a work of small form (monologue, short play - sketch, couplet) most often of a comedic or satirical nature. Miniature theater is a form of chamber theater and is very popular. Now there are also television miniature shows (for example, “Town”, “Our Russia”, “Six Frames”, etc.)

The concept has also extended to musical genres. A miniature is a short instrumental, vocal or orchestral piece (preludes, etudes, nocturnes). Composers usually combine miniatures into cycles.

Examples: Student Theater of Student Miniatures, master of piano miniatures.

Other meanings

The term miniature is also used in other areas. For example, this is the name given to miniature collectible figurines. In the computer field, it is a reduced copy of an image for ease of presentation. And in chess - any problem in the initial position of which the number of all pieces on the field is no more than seven.

You can find interpretations of other interesting words in the section.

Miniature

MINIATURE-s; and.[ital. miniatura]

1. A small color drawing in ancient manuscripts and books. Look at the miniatures.

2. A pictorial work distinguished by its subtlety of design, careful finishing and small size. Eighteenth century miniatures. Palekhskaya m. // collected Such paintings, portraits as a type of painting. Miniature art.

3. A work of art of small size, small shape. Miniatures of the young Chekhov. Miniatures by Schubert. Theater of miniatures.

◁ In miniature, in zn. adj. In a reduced form, size. Using the example of one family, society is presented in miniature. The entire region is represented in miniature at the festival. Miniature (see).

(French miniature, from Latin minium - cinnabar, red lead), 1) a work of art (usually a painting) of small size, distinguished by a particularly subtle manner of applying paint. Initially, miniatures were called illustrations, initials, headpieces, etc. in handwritten books made in gouache, watercolor and other paints. The art of book miniatures reached high perfection in medieval European, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Iranian and Indian culture. The name “miniature” was also applied to small-format painting (mainly portraiture), executed on bone, parchment, cardboard, paper, metal, porcelain, and often on household objects - snuff boxes, watches, rings. For miniatures on varnish products, see Artistic varnishes. 2) In literature, theater, music, circus, on the stage - the genre of “small forms”, a small-sized work (story, play, vaudeville, sideshow, sketch, conversational genre, choreographic, vocal or musical scene, variety or clown reprise and etc.). The repertoire of miniature theaters is based on miniatures.

MINIATURE (French miniature, from Latin minium - cinnabar, red lead),
1) a work of art (usually a painting) of small size, distinguished by a particularly subtle manner of applying paint. Initially, miniatures were the name given to illustrations, initials, headpieces, etc., made in gouache, watercolors, and other colors in handwritten books. The art of book miniatures reached a high degree of perfection in medieval European, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Iranian and Indian culture. The name “miniature” was also applied to small-format painting (mainly portraiture), executed on bone, parchment, cardboard, paper, metal, porcelain, and often on household objects - snuff boxes, watches, rings. For miniatures on varnish products, see Artistic varnishes (cm. ART VARNISHES).
2) In literature, theater, music, circus, on the stage - the genre of “small forms”, a small-sized work (story, play, vaudeville, sideshow, sketch, conversational, choreographic, vocal or musical scene, variety or clown reprise, etc. .d.). The repertoire of miniature theaters is based on miniatures.