{"meta":{"version":"2.0","images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AD0302/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AD0302/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AD0302","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AD0293","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1202","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1070140/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1070140","accessionNumber":"P.126-1920","objectType":"Portrait miniature","titles":[{"title":"Portrait miniature of Lieutenant Thomas Harriott","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This miniature of Lt Thomas Harriot, the artist's second husband, was painted by Diana Hill (maiden name Dietz, 1760-1844), a British miniature painter who lived and worked in Kolkata between 1786 and 1806. Hill was part of a group of portrait painters who travelled to India in pursuit of more commissions and artistic acclaim, such as John Smart and Ozias Humphry. As a woman artist, Hill’s position was more contested than that of her contemporaries in India. In a telling display of his prejudice, Humphry proclaimed that he would ‘rather have had all the male painters in England landed in Bengal than a single woman.’ Hill nonetheless persisted and built a successful portrait practice amongst the city’s colonial elite. It appears the artist stopped painting professionally after her second marriage: this miniature of her second husband may be one of her last works.","physicalDescription":"Oval portrait miniature on ivory of a man, Lieutenant Thomas Harriott, wearing his military uniform. The miniature is monogrammed and dated by the artist and set in a metal frame. On the reverse are the initials of the sitter with hairwork.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Diana Hill","id":"A9811"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Diana Hill (maiden name Dietz) was a British miniature painter who worked in Britain and India during the eighteenth century. Hill was trained by Jeremiah Meyer and regularly exhibited at the RA. Perhaps inspired by her brother-in-law, John Hill, and his connections with the East India Company, and as a recent a widow with two young children, Hill left to India in 1786 to be a portrait painter. Records authorizing her passage remain at the British Library. Several archival records illuminate her time in India, including Ozias Humphry declaring that he ‘rather have had all the male painters in England in Bengal than a single woman.’ She gave up miniature painting after her second marriage in 1788; this miniature of her second husband may be her last work."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on ivory ","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Colonialism and Empire","id":"THES253004"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AD0302","2006AD0293","2017KE1202"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"90A (VA)","id":"THES49164"},"free":"","case":"12","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Miniature","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Kolkata","id":"x32018"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"India","id":"x29790"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1791","earliest":"1791-01-01","latest":"1791-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"48","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from Summary Catalogue of Miniatures in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Emmett Microform, 1981.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"D. H. 1791","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 with monogram and dated centre right"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family in eighteenth-century Britain as tokens of affection and remembrance. In colonial India, where many officers were separated from loved ones for long periods of time, there was a high demand for portraits that could be sent to friends and family back home; or that could document and preserve one’s own likeness. Hill painted the portraits of many central figures of the British community in Kolkata. This portrait miniature depicts the artist’s second husband. ","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Lt Thomas Harriott, by Diana Hill, watercolour on ivory, 1791.\r\n","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Summary Catalogue of Miniatures in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Emmett Microform, 1981\r\n\r\nM. Archer, India and British Portraiture 1770-1825 (Sotheby’s Publications, 1979)\r\n\r\nW. Foster, ‘British artists in India, 1760–1820’, Walpole Society, 19 (1930–31), 1–88, p. 40"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"portrait","id":"AAT33936"},{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"military dress","id":"x47389"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.126-1920"],"accessionNumberNum":"126","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1920,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LR2296","2019LP0560","2019LU9763"],"recordModificationDate":"2024-01-08","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30"}}