Join author and historian Kathleen Langone for a richly illustrated lecture on the life and work of Amalia Kussner, one of the most celebrated miniaturists of the Gilded Age—and discover her surprising connections to Newburyport’s own renowned portrait miniaturist, Laura Coombs Hills.

In the late 19th century, no female portrait artist matched Amalia Kussner’s prestige or clientele. At a time when photography was ascendant, Kussner’s hand-painted miniatures delivered warmth, elegance, and a soulful presence that cameras could not. Her sitters included Caroline Astor, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Mamie Fish, Minnie Paget, Edward VII, Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra, and Cecil Rhodes—rendered in luxurious detail and often in daringly modern, off-the-shoulder poses.