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The Portrait of Mai
The Portrait of Mai
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, explores the importance of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ spectacular Portrait of Mai (Omai).
Dr Lucy Pelzt, explains in detail, Sir Joshua Reynolds’ majestic painting which holds a pivotal place in global art history, depicting the first Polynesian to visit Britain, and is widely regarded as the finest portrait by one of Britain’s greatest artists.
Time Period:
18th century
Themes:
I studied History of Art and French at Sussex University, before taking an MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art and completing a PhD at the University of Manchester in 1998. I worked as an assistant curator and curator at the British Museum and Museum of London before joining the National Portrait Gallery as Eighteenth Century Curator in 2001. Since then I have been responsible for refurbishing and redisplaying the Regency galleries (2003) as well as for developing ‘Making Faces – Eighteenth Century Style’ at Beningbrough Hall (2006-18), is a series of interactive galleries which use portraiture, hands-on exhibits and digital material to explore portraiture as a business in the eighteenth century. This innovative installation was short-listed for the Guardian, ‘Kids in Museums’ Award in 2009. At the National Portrait Gallery, I have also co-curated two major exhibitions, Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings (2008) and Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance (2010). In pursuing my research into extra-illustration and portrait print collecting, I have been awarded several fellowships, including, a Huntington Library Fellowship (2001) and a Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust (2008-10). I am also a Trustee of the Wordsworth Trust and was the External Examiner for the M.A. in Museum Studies at the University of Leeds (2012-15). I have been an Honorary Research Fellow in the History of Art Department, Birkbeck, University of London, since 2016.
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08:02
Miniaturising Portraits
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery discover portrait miniatures, one of the most intimate forms of art, designed to be ‘viewed ... in hand near unto the eye’. Nicholas Hilliard’s miniature painting of Sir Kenelm Digby, Naval commander, diplomat and scientist, is a great example of how these miniature works of art, were usually painted on the reverse of a playing card, often mounted within a jewelled case that could be worn, carried in a pocket or kept for private display within the home.
09:19
The Portrait of Mai
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, explores the importance of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ spectacular Portrait of Mai (Omai). Dr Lucy Pelzt, explains in detail, Sir Joshua Reynolds’ majestic painting which holds a pivotal place in global art history, depicting the first Polynesian to visit Britain, and is widely regarded as the finest portrait by one of Britain’s greatest artists.
04:09
Daguerreotype-mania
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, examines and demonstrates the introduction of the daguerreotype from 1839 that marked a revolution in portrait making. Daguerreotype portraiture caught the public’s imagination, and the photographic studios where they were lucrative businesses and quickly sprang up around the world. This film explores work made by the two earliest photographic portrait studios in London, set up by Richard Beard and Antoine Claudet. They opened within months of each other in 1841, and are considered the birth of portrait photography in the United Kingdom.
08:02
Miniaturising Portraits
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery discover portrait miniatures, one of the most intimate forms of art, designed to be ‘viewed ... in hand near unto the eye’. Nicholas Hilliard’s miniature painting of Sir Kenelm Digby, Naval commander, diplomat and scientist, is a great example of how these miniature works of art, were usually painted on the reverse of a playing card, often mounted within a jewelled case that could be worn, carried in a pocket or kept for private display within the home.
09:19
The Portrait of Mai
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, explores the importance of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ spectacular Portrait of Mai (Omai). Dr Lucy Pelzt, explains in detail, Sir Joshua Reynolds’ majestic painting which holds a pivotal place in global art history, depicting the first Polynesian to visit Britain, and is widely regarded as the finest portrait by one of Britain’s greatest artists.
04:09
Daguerreotype-mania
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, examines and demonstrates the introduction of the daguerreotype from 1839 that marked a revolution in portrait making. Daguerreotype portraiture caught the public’s imagination, and the photographic studios where they were lucrative businesses and quickly sprang up around the world. This film explores work made by the two earliest photographic portrait studios in London, set up by Richard Beard and Antoine Claudet. They opened within months of each other in 1841, and are considered the birth of portrait photography in the United Kingdom.
04:31
Lord Byron's Decoupage Screen
HENI Talks in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, reflect on the invention of the cult of personality in the Romantic age through Byron’s Decoupage Screen. As a piece of furniture with a practical function, like a giant scrapbook, this six-foot high, four-panelled folding screen is elaborately decorated on each side with a cut and pasted mosaic of text and images. One side of the screen depicts a history of the English theatre in over one hundred and fifty mezzotints and line engravings of notable actors. The other side presents the world of boxing.
6:10
A Female Gaze
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