{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1069471"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1069471/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA0549/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KA0549/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KA0549","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1069471/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1069471","accessionNumber":"P.14-1920","objectType":"Enamel miniature","titles":[{"title":"Landscape with women bathing","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Miniature painting on enamel depicting a landscape with women bathing.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"William Birch","id":"A5713"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Landscape miniature on enamel","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Landscapes","id":"THES250800"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2017KA0549"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"RMC","shelf":"8","box":"G"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniatures (paintings)","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"possibly"},{"place":{"text":"America","id":"x29333"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1775-1834","earliest":"1770-01-01","latest":"1834-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Miniature painting on enamel depicting a landscape with women bathing by William Birch.  Anglo-American, ca. 1775-1834.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"A small number of primarily immigrant artists introduced enamel-on-copper miniatures to America, with Birch being one of the most acclaimed. The enamel-on-copper miniature tradition, begun in Continental Europe, was imported to England from France in the 1630s. Enamels remained popular in Britain during the early eighteenth century, but were eventually eclipsed by the watercolor-on-ivory medium. A painter and engraver, Birch was trained in both watercolor and enamel techniques. As a young artist in London, he exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy, and Sir Joshua Reynolds commissioned him to paint several enamels after his portraits. \r\n\r\nIn 1794, Birch emigrated to Philadelphia with his wife and four sons, one of whom, Thomas Birch, became a portrait, landscape, and marine painter. Armed with a letter of introduction from Benjamin West, Birch quickly launched a successful business painting portraits in enamel. At least half of his commissions were to copy full-scale portraits; the rest were portraits from life. Among his sitters were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Marquis de Lafayette, and other heroes of the young republic. \r\n\r\nBirch also achieved some notoriety as an engraver when he published a volume of picturesque views, <i>The City of Philadelphia</i>, with his son Thomas in 1800. Eight years later, Birch presented a second book, <i>The Country Seats of the United States</i>, which included his own designs for gardens. In his autobiography, Birch lamented that \"finding the foreign visiters [<i>sic</i>] to this country, upon whome I chiefly depended, greatly falling off, and the Art of enamel painting here not understood or encouragement enough to excell, I found my profession dwindling to contempt.\" Despite his dissatisfaction with the state of art patronage in America, Birch continued to paint enamel miniatures until his death in 1834.\r\n\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"bathing","id":"x39549"},{"text":"landscapes","id":"AAT15636"},{"text":"miniature","id":"AAT33936"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.14-1920"],"accessionNumberNum":"14","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1920,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}