Portrait miniatures are intimate tokens of love, loss, allegiance, and affection exchanged between friends. The earliest examples were painted in watercolor on vellum (animal skin). By the 1600s, new techniques of painting enamels facilitated an artist’s ability to paint delicate portraits resembling tiny oil paintings. They offered a robust alternative to watercolor on ivory or…

At the turn of the twentieth century, the circumstances of a changing modern world were visible on the stage of the Paris ballet. Social classes mixed in this public setting, where some of the city’s poorest young women pirouetted across the stage for paying audiences. The dancers’ internationally influenced costumes often reflected larger cultural exchanges.…