A cabinet painting is a small painting, typically no larger than two feet in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a small scale, rather than a head or other object painted nearly life-size. Such paintings are done very precisely, with a great degree of "finish".
Le Baron de Besenval dans son salon de compagnie at the Hôtel de Besenval, by Henri-Pierre Danloux (1791). In 1786, the baron granted Luc-Vincent Thiéry privileged access to this picture cabinet, which he describes in all details in his guide on Paris, published in 1787. Colin B. Bailey notes that this intimate picture "deserves to be known as the single oil painting produced in the 18th century of a French private collector in his picture cabinet." Today the portrait is part of the collections of the
The Flight into Egypt, by Adam Elsheimer, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. 31 × 41 cm
Saint George Fighting the Dragon by Raphael, Louvre, 31 × 27 cm
A cabinet was a private room in the houses and palaces of early modern Europe serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, the equivalent of the Italian Renaissance studiolo. In the Late Medieval period, such newly perceived requirements for privacy had been served by the solar of the English gentry house, and a similar, less secular purpose had been served by a private oratory.
Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome (with friends) in his study by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526.
Saint Jerome in His Study, 1514, by Albrecht Dürer
The richly decorated Studiolo of Francesco I
A corner of a cabinet of curiosities, painted by Frans II Francken in 1636 reveals the range of connoisseurship of a Baroque-era virtuoso.
