Abstract
Elizabethan aesthetics and microcosm vs macrocosm. The representation of space in Elizabethan miniatures (Horenbout, Holbein, Hilliard and Oliver) shows an evolution from conventional portrait painting to subjective and personal portraits. The border of the figure within the frame shows the use of the two-dimensional space of the ground as essential to inner coherence. Parts are inscribed within the overall structure thanks to proportions and rhythm. Mannerist aesthetics suggest the orthogonal dimensions of the miniatures are modified by the use of the S line in the composition. Cubic perspective also introduces alterations but the conclusion leads us back to a medieval mysticism developed by, and characteristic of, what is usually known as the Hilliard manner : a flat background and an ornamental miniature design with a constant use of mineral and stellar symbolism thanks to which microcosm and macrocosm indeed are one, in a manner not unlike fractal objects of modem mathematics.
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