“A sight for sore eyes and a delight to behold.”—James Panero, The New Criterion

“A richly illustrated cache of over 130 of the bejeweled, hand-painted treasures.” —Lauren Moya Floyd, Hyperallergic

“Collecting with an eye for quality.”—Peter Trippi, Fine Art Connoisseur

 “Lets us peer at one of the most extensive private collections of these weird and wonderful 18th- and 19th-century works, most of which stare right back.”—Anne Wallentine, Artillery Magazine

"Charming, beautiful and informative."—M. J. Rose, The Adventurine

“Should definitely be on the shelf of anyone interested in Georgian and Victorian jewellery, sentimental jewellery or European jewellery!”—Sigrid van Roode, bedouinsilver.com

Elle Shushan is a dealer, author, lecturer, and museum consultant in the field of portrait miniatures. Among her clients are the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Shushan has published numerous articles on portrait miniatures, in addition to contributing essays for museum publications. As a dealer, she has exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht and New York, The Winter Show, New York, and Masterpiece London. Graham C. Boettcher, Ph.D., is the R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as the museum’s William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art, overseeing the collections of pre-1945 American fine and decorative art. Boettcher’s publications include contributions to American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820–1880 (2002); Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery (2008); and Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980(2020). Among his many exhibitions are The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection, which was included among the “Season’s Best Museum Shows” by Architectural Digest in 2012, and Black Like Who?: Exploring Race & Representation (with Dr. Kelli Morgan, 2015), which was named a “Don’t Miss” exhibition by the Wall Street Journal. Stephen Lloyd is curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall, Merseyside, England. His doctoral thesis (Oxford University) on Richard and Maria Cosway formed the basis of his 1995–96 exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh and at the National Portrait Gallery in London. From 1993 to 2009 he was assistant keeper and then senior curator at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (SNPG), where he curated many exhibitions on portrait miniatures and on art in Scotland around 1800. In 2008–9 he curated (with Kim Sloan) at the SNPG and the British Museum the exhibition The Intimate Portrait: Drawings, Miniatures and Pastels from Ramsay to Lawrence. He has edited two collections of essays, Henry Raeburn: Context, Reception and Reputation (with Viccy Coltman, 2012) and Art, Animals and Politics: Knowsley and the Earls of Derby (2016).

Collectors’ Preface by Nan and David Skier; Acknowledgments by Elle Shushan and Graham C. Boettcher; The Artist’s Eye by Elle Shushan; The Intimate Gaze: Eye and Mouth Miniatures Painted by Richard Cosway by Stephen Lloyd; Symbol & Sentiment: Lover’s Eyes and the Language of Gemstones by Graham C. Boettcher; Floriography by Elle Shushan; Fake or Fashion by Elle Shushan; Love Never Dies by Graham C. Boettcher; Catalogue of the Collection compiled by Graham C. Boettcher, Nan Skier and Elle Shushan, with the assistance of Laura Wallace and Maggie Keenan; Index; Contributor Biographies