The 4th Marquess of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace were both passionate collectors of miniatures, exquisite small paintings in watercolor or enamel, generally made for private contemplation and one of the most popular mediums of portraiture in an age before the advent of photography. This book features over seventy of the finest miniatures in the Wallace Collection, all of them reproduced in color, most for the first time. The volume spans the period from the mid-16th to the late-19th centuries. The entries include much new information on the miniatures and are accompanied by images of related works in the Wallace Collection and elsewhere. There are introductory essays on the history of the collection and on French eighteenth-century miniatures, a particular highlight of the collection. Exceptional among English-language publications in its focus on French miniatures, this book offers a fascinating and tantalizing glimpse into the magical world of the miniature.