Cior, Charles Pierre - portrait of H Michel

This miniature portrait has an inscription on the front that reads "H Michel 1820". This was first thought to be the signature of the French artist noted in Blattel, and in Lespinasse, as active around 1810.

However, a kind visitor to the website has advised this is probably the name of the sitter, as the miniature can be attributed to the French artist, Charles Pierre Cior (1769-1840). While it is uncommon for the sitter's name to appear on the front instead of the artist, it is not unique.

As another example, in the American section of this collection there is a miniature, which in style is clearly by J H Gillespie, but which has the name "Alexander H Niven" inscribed on the front.

However, the naming of this miniature is made even more confusing, as inside the frame there is a piece of paper that appears to read "Monsieur Leroy do (ditto?) fixet (?) 1807".

A possible explanation is that the scratched signature of H Michel 1820 is a later addition, with the original portrait dating to 1807, and with Monsieur Leroy being the name of the framer.

Schidlof observes "About 1805 Cior changed his style completely. He put gum in his colours to make them more fresh, he used wider brushes to work more quickly and he discovered the decorative effect of landscape backgrounds. It is about this period that he did his best miniatures, some of which one would not expect of him by seeing his ordinary work. During the last 25 years of his life."

Also, "Cior must have produced much and possibly sold his miniatures cheaply. In this period his miniatures all all done in the same way: the faces almost front view, with rather pale blue shadows, a sky background in gouache, with the of some leaves on the right and with the signature Cior ending on a spiral on the left."

As of September 2007, Boris Wilnitsky has a miniature by Cior with very similar facial features and style, shown here and displayed on his website at Boris Wilnitsky Fine Art - Homepage1167