The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

Die Miniatur Über den Künstler

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

DE
The Miniature About the Artist

Mikołaj Oppeln-Bronikowski

Jean-Baptiste Isabey

Born in Poznan/Poland, Mikołaj Oppeln-Bronikowski (1767-1817) made a brilliant career during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honour in 1809 and made General de Brigade in 1810.1
Courage, strength and thirst for adventure are suggested by the extensive cloudy sky and Bronikowski's gaze, which is directed into the distance. The portrait is painted in English manner showing the sitters in front of a cloudy sky.2 This style can be regarded as a transition between Isabeyʼs portraits with brown-black background painted in the 1790ʼs3 and the large-format works on paper which he created after 1811. At the time he painted this miniature Isabey was member of the intimate circle of empress Joséphine in Malmaison and was awarded several artistic commissions.4 Therefore he did not spend much time painting miniatures, but made exceptions for important clients.
B. P.

1 We are grateful to Dimitri Gorchkoff, Moscow, for identifying the sitter in this miniature.
2 Another miniature presenting a gentleman before a cloudy sky (in an almost identical case) was sold at Sothebyʼs, Geneva, in May 1981.
3 Isabey painted his first watercolour portraits before a cloudy sky at around 1795.
4 For example in connection with the festivities for Napoleonʼs coronation in 1804.