What Qualifies as a Miniature Painting?
Miniature painting involves tedious and delicate brushwork that captivates under close scrutiny. The contemporary revival in miniature has been marked by a clear move towards explicitly including size and scale in the general description of the works. Partly due to the vague usage of the term miniature and in an effort to encourage and further define the direction of the art form most contemporary Societies have adopted a one-sixth scale guideline. This guide states subjects should be rendered one-sixth their life-size or smaller with some leeway given to naturally small subjects (hummingbirds, butterflies and delicate flowers). Some Societies place less stringent guidelines on subject size and limit only the image area. Framing guidelines have been loosened lately to include more molding styles and sizes as long as the overall framed work falls under the set size. Most societies encourage delicate frames matching the proportions of the artwork. (the framed artwork or sculpture should
