Artist: Rosalie M. Emslie · about 1905-10Self-Portrait
Rosalie M. Emslie was a London-based miniature painter working in the early twentieth century. She exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and became a member of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Engravers in 1927. This exhibition includes her acceptance certificate into the society.
In a 1907 publication Emslie’s work was praised as ‘delicate and refined’ recalling ‘the beautiful work of Cosway’ – a reference to Richard Cosway (1742-1821), one of the most successful portrait artists in early nineteenth-century England. Emslie was part of a wider revival of portrait miniature painting in Britain, supported by the formation of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Engravers. The portrait miniature’s small scale made it more accessible to female practitioners at a contradictory time when women faced limits in artistic training, while expanding access to education and professional networks also supported their involvement.
Who is the Sitter?
The sitter is Rosalie Emslie herself. This self-portrait is set against a pale blue background and signed with her initials, ‘RME’, asserting her identity as the maker of the work. It is housed in a double-sided locket that also contains a portrait of her husband, Alfred E. Emslie (1848–1918), a photographer and painter. The locket format suggests the miniature may have acted as an intimate and romantic gesture between Rosalie and her husband. The other half of this locket is depicted below.
Relationship to Power
This miniature is significant because Rosalie is both artist and sitter, blurring the traditional divide between maker and subject. The locket format suggests a private object, likely linked to a close personal relationship, challenging the idea of patronage and art practice as purely commercial.
Furthermore, when looking closely at the miniature we see how it offers an unflinching portrait that resists idealisation or glamour, asserting agency in the artist’s control over her own image. She depicts herself with greying hair and delicately painted ageing lines and wrinkles.
Working at a time when women were expected to prioritise domestic life, Rosalie presents herself as both a professional artist and a wife. By placing her image alongside her husband’s (V&A E.488-2010), she suggests equality and a shared creative identity between the couple who were both practicing artists. Her unidealised depiction resists conventional expectations of femininity, allowing her to control how she is seen and remembered. In this sense, the miniature becomes not only a private token of affection, but a portable, self-fashioned record of authorship and ageing.