{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1069272"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1069272/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JF4173/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JF4173/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JF4173","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1069272","accessionNumber":"P.14-1978","objectType":"Portrait Miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait Miniature of Lt. Colonel William Cleeve","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This miniature is an extraordinary example of a portrait miniature painted in the colonial Caribbean by a female artist who lived there. \r\n\r\nThe sitter, Lt Colonel William Cleeve (active ca. 1780-1831), served in the West Indies between 1801 and 1815 and was at the capture of six islands which became the colonial French West Indies. He travelled between St Kitts, Barbados, Dominica, and Martinique. Cleeve was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in Barbados on 6 November 1828. For his services as the Commanding Officer of the Royal Artillery at the capture of Martinique and Guadeloupe, he received the decoration of the 'Fleur de Lys'. According to a note by a descendant of the sitter, Ruby E. Cleeve, this miniature was painted after the sitter had apparently lost his good looks due to a bout of smallpox and was disliked by his family for this reason.\r\n\r\nIt was made by Charlotte Martner (1781-1839), a female miniaturist who worked in Martinique, in the French Antilles, between 1803 and 1821. Martner was born in Paris and likely learned to paint from her father, who was an engraver. In 1802, the artist submitted several of her works for exhibition at the French Salon. She relocated to the Caribbean with her husband in 1803 after a short stay in Louisiana. Martner painted miniatures throughout her stay in Martinique, including portraits of several people of colour who have yet to be identified. Some of them may have been enslaved: Martner and her husband owned several enslaved people, including Maximin, who self-liberated in 1804. Enslaved people may also have contributed to her artistic practice in the form of skilled manual labour, such as the grinding of pigments or preparation of grounds for painting.\r\n\r\nThe artist returned to France in 1821 with her painting box and several miniatures. She continued to write letters to her friends in Martinique but remained in France until her death in 1839.","physicalDescription":"Circular portrait miniature on ivory of Lt Colonel William Cleeve, signed and dated by Charlotte Martner, and set in a wooden frame.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Charlotte Martner","id":"AUTH392449"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Signed and dated. The signature on the miniature can be read as 'mme Martner' (Madame Martner). \r\n\r\nCharlotte Martner was born Charlotte-Gertrude-Hélène Daniel and was known as Charlotte Camô after her second marriage. Martner travelled from France to Louisiana in 1803, eventually landing in Martinique. Two advertisements date her arrival on the island in 1804. The first is a run-away advertisement for an enslaved cook named Maximin who self-liberated from her and her husband’s home in Fort de France. Shortly after, a newspaper notice mentions Martner as the artist responsible for a bust of Empress Josephine’s mother, who owned a sugar plantation in Martinique, for a celebration in her honour. This notice describes Martner as a miniature painter in Fort de France. Martner worked in Martinique until her departure after 1821. Her archive, including painting materials and finished portraits, remains with her descendants in Marseille."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Caribbean","id":"THES286921"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2016JF4173"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"3","box":"R"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniatures (paintings)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Caribbean Sea","id":"THES385515"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"Painted in Martinique, French Antilles"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1809","earliest":"1809-01-01","latest":"1809-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Miss Ruby E. Cleeve","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"67","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Mme Martner 1809","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed in the margin in black, lower right. "}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family in England as tokens of affection and remembrance. In the Caribbean, where many were separated from loved ones and frequently on the move, miniatures became popular as well. Cleeve likely commissioned this miniature to send to family back in England or as a memento of his time in the Caribbean.\r\n","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait Miniature of Lieutenant Colonel William Cleeve, by Charlotte Martner, watercolour on ivory, 1809.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Summary Catalogue of Miniatures in the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>, Emmett Microform, 1981\r\n\r\n\r\nDamiët Schneeweisz, ‘Laboring Likeness: Charlotte Martner’s Paint Box in Martinique,’ <i>Journal 18</i>, December 2023"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <u>The Portrait Miniature in England</u>, V&A Publications, 1998, pp.87-92."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, <i>Finney, Samuel (1719-1798)</i>', <u>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</u>, Oxford University Press, 2004."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. The Portrait Miniature: A New History. London: Thames & Hudson  and the V&A, 2026."},{"reference":{"text":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. <i>The Portrait Miniature: A New History</i>. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026.","id":"AUTH411474"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Caribbean Sea","id":"THES385515"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"","id":""}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.14-1978"],"accessionNumberNum":"14","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1978,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}