About Gillie Hoyte Byrom
A lifetime painting in enamel.
I have played a major role in the revival of contemporary enamel painting. After decades as a painter of portrait miniatures, I now devote myself to teaching the craft to a new generation of enamellers.
Trained in Barcelona, 1990
It began with one technique.
I was first taught traditional vitreous enamel skills in Barcelona in 1990. In the years since, I have developed these techniques further — working in copper, silver and 18ct gold to produce jewel-like heirlooms, treasured for a lifetime and by future generations.
My enamel portraits have won many national and international prizes, most notably the prestigious Jacques Cartier Memorial Award in the Goldsmiths' Craftsmanship and Design competition in 2007, for my painted enamel interpretation of Holbein's "King Henry VIII", and the Order of Zuev in Russia in 2019 — an honour created for enamel miniaturists, of which I am the only non-Russian recipient.
How I work
01
Glass, fused to metal
Each portrait is painted in a sequence of thin layers of glass paint on copper, silver or gold — fired in a kiln at 750°C, anywhere between 10 and 30 times.
02
By hand, under magnification
Likeness and detail are achieved by hand with the finest sable miniaturist brushes, working under a microscope so the miniature can be magnified to life-size.
03
Made to never fade
Unlike other media, enamel colours remain exactly as they were at the final firing. A miniature painted today will look the same in a hundred years.
On composition
"The composition needs to be fresh and alive. Where a photograph can look stilted, Gillie combines the best features of a subject into a recognisable likeness."
— from a client statement
I am no longer taking new commissions — but this same eye for composition and likeness is exactly what I now pass on to my students, through my book, courses and private lessons.
Awards & Honours
- 2019 The Order of Zuev Russia — the only non-Russian recipient
- 2007 The Jacques Cartier Memorial Award Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council
- Best Senior Award
- Gold Award, Enamel Painting
- 1985 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition First exhibited
1990
Trained in Barcelona
2007
Jacques Cartier Memorial Award
2019
Order of Zuev, Russia
750°C
Kiln firing temperature
2007, Goldsmiths' Hall
Winner of the Jacques Cartier Memorial Award.
The Jacques Cartier Memorial Award is the most prestigious prize in the annual Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council competition. In 2007, I won it for my painted enamel interpretation of Holbein's "King Henry VIII" — a piece exhibited at Goldsmiths' Hall.
"King Henry VIII", 1537 — after the cartoon for a lost fresco in Whitehall and oil paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger. 18ct gold, 76 x 140 mm.
2019, Russia
Awarded the Order of Zuev.
Vasili Zuev was Court miniaturist to the Carl Fabergé firm in St Petersburg. The Order of Zuev was created for enamel miniaturists in his honour, and I was awarded it in Russia in 2019.
The 150th anniversary of Zuev was marked by the publication "Vasily Zuev and His Successors" by Valentin Skurlov, Ph.D, which includes 165 biographies of holders of the Fabergé Memorial Foundation Awards — superbly illustrated, and in which I am the only non-Russian participant.
