Emma Rutherford
Emma Rutherford is a freelance art historian specialising in portrait miniatures and silhouettes. Her clients include Philip Mould & Co., the National Portrait Gallery, National Trust and a number of major institutions nationwide.
Emma has close working relationships with museum and gallery curators, as well as conservators and restorers. She has conducted many significant private and public valuations and private treaty sales. She has also made several television appearances and advises the Antiques Roadshow.
Emma began her career working in the Victoria and Albert Museum whilst completing an MA in Victorian Art and Architecture. She set up the Portrait Miniatures Department at Phillip's Auctioneers and after the amalgamation of Phillips and Bonhams she became Departmental Director. During her time in the auction world, Emma sourced and handled the Albion Collection.
From 2007 to December 2022, Emma ran a portrait miniatures consultancy at Philip Mould & Co., London. Emma curated and co-curated many exhibitions of portrait miniatures at the gallery, most recently “Without Hands”; The Art of Sarah Biffin (1 November - 21 December 2022). Other exhibitions with Philip Mould & Co. include Love’s Labour’s Found (2021), Jewel in the Hand; Early Portrait Miniatures from Private and Noble Collections (2019), Charles Dickens, The Lost Portrait (2018/19), John Smart; A Genius Magnified (2014), Warts and All; The Portrait Miniatures of Samuel Cooper (2013) and Secret Faces (2008).
Emma's significant discoveries include a signed portrait of King of France Henri III by Jean Decourt in 2020; the earliest known European portrait miniature of a black sitter, a portrait of Prince Zaga Christ by Giovanni Garzoni in 2019, now at the Allen Memorial Art Museum; and a lost portrait miniature of Charles Dickens in 2017, now at the Charles Dickens Museum.
In 2023, Emma established The Limner Company. She hopes to bring portrait miniatures to a wider audience, sharing the latest research and exhibitions, and a carefully curated selection of original works for sale.
Emma is a member of the specialist British Art Network and a trustee for The Drug of Art charity.
Emma’s publications are listed below.
Contact Emma: +44 (0)7983 510 056 | emma@portraitminiature.com
Publications
-
“WITHOUT HANDS”: THE ART OF SARAH BIFFIN
By Ellie Smith, Emma Rutherford, November 2022
The catalogue for the exhibition at Philip Mould & Co. 1 November - 21 December 2022.
-
LOVE'S LABOUR'S FOUND; ELIZABETHAN & JACOBEAN PORTRAITURE
by Emma Rutherford, Lawrence Hendra, 2021
The catalogue for the exhibition at Philip Mould & Co. 21 April - 29 May 2021.
-
‘AN ENGLISH ARTIST AT THE VALOIS COURT: A PORTRAIT OF HENRI III BY NICHOLAS HILLIARD’, THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, NO. 1391 – VOL 161, FEBRUARY 2019
by William Aslet, Lucia Burgio, Céline Cachaud, Alan Derbyshire, Emma Rutherford
-
JEWEL IN THE HAND; EARLY PORTRAIT MINIATURES FROM NOBLE AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
by William Aslet, Lawrence Hendra, Rebecca Ingram, Emma Rutherford, with essays by Susan North and Jonathan Page, 2019
-
CHARLES DICKENS: THE LOST PORTRAIT
by Emma Rutherford, Lawrence Hendra, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, Louisa Price, 2018
The catalogue for the exhibition at Philip Mould & Co. 22 November 2018 - 25 January 2019.
-
A REGENCY BUCK: ADAM BUCK
by Peter Darvall, Jon Whiteley, with an introduction by Emma Rutherford, 2015
The first ever monograph of the Irish born Regency-era miniaturist and artist, Adam Buck. This publication accompanied an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, ‘An Elegant Society: Adam Buck, artist in the age of Jane Austen’.
-
JOHN SMART: A GENIUS MAGNIFIED
by Emma Rutherford, Lawrence Hendra, Lindsay Stainton, Haydn Williams, 2014
The catalogue for the exhibition at Philip Mould & Co. in 2014.
-
WARTS AND ALL; THE PORTRAIT MINIATURES OF SAMUEL COOPER
by Emma Rutherford, edited by Dr Bendor Grosvenor, 2013
The exhibition catalogue for the exhibition at Philip Mould & Co. in 2013.
-
SILHOUETTE: THE ART OF THE SHADOW
by Emma Rutherford, with a foreword by Lulu Guinness, 2009
This first major work on the art of the silhouette, draws from dozens of American and European sources to create a fascinating history of the art form and to illuminate the compelling social history hidden behind its shadows.