The Hand of the Miniature Nathaniel Thach worked in the quiet, precise space of the miniature. His hands dealt in small scales, capturing the likenesses of those who lived through the mid-seventeenth century. There is a specific kind of focus required to work on such a scale, a stillness that matches the delicate nature of the medium. His life and work are tied to the period between 1617 and 1653, a time when the portrait served as a portable, intimate connection to a person's image. His brushwork was not meant for the vast walls of a palace, but for the palm of a hand or the close gaze of a…