Golden Tresses

Painted around 1800 and set against a cloudy blue sky background, this young lady has soulful brown eyes and long blonde curls secured with a bandeau. She wears a traditional style of décoletté dress with a frilled neckline and a blue ribbon sash.

The portrait is in good condition and is set in the original gold frame that is glazed on the back to show plaited brown hair. There are a couple of short scratches to the front glass and a small area of discolouration to the hair on the back, perhaps the result of over-enthusiastic polishing!

The eldest son of a Birmingham spoon manufacturer, Hobday (1771-1831) was eighteen when he entered the Royal Academy Schools. He subsequently worked in London, Bath and Bristol attracting a fashionable clientele but also leading an extravagant lifestyle that in 1829 resulted in his bankruptcy.