c. 1760s Georgian Portrait Miniature of a Young Girl

A c. 1760s English Georgian portrait miniature, of an adolescent girl in a pale gown, neck and hair bare and cheeks rosy, the portrait under a glass cover with a surrounding halo of rose cut diamonds and old cushion cut rubies. The 14k rose gold frame (with a yellow gold wash) was originally fashioned as a bracelet clasp, probably worn with a velvet or woven hair band, but has been converted to a pendant with the addition of a circular bail. The portrait can be attributed to a 1760s date due to the portrait’s gradient ochre-green ground, which was common and popular in miniature portraiture during the 1760s, and would fall out of fashion around 1780, when Richard Cosway inspired cloud and sky blue backdrops became in vogue. Refer to a group of c. 1760s miniatures in the Victoria & Albert Museum, all with ochre-green grounds (P.96-1910, P.13-1914, P.13-1984, EVANS.213, 503-1902, EVANS.194). The present portrait’s pavé-set diamond and ruby halo is also very similar in cut, arrangement, and setting to a 1769 portrait sold by Sotheby’s (the Pohl-Stöhler Collection, lot 49). The young girl painted is also similar in bearing and styling to portraits of Thomas Gainsbourough’s daughters, painted by the artist in 1758 and 1764-5; prevailing trends during the decade favored elongated, swan-like lines, with clean and unadorned necklines and simple hairstyles not yet affected by the voluminous coiffure of the 1770-90s.
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