Brown-Eyed Girl

Nicholas Freese rarely signed his portraits but his distinctive style of painting that usually included an orange-blue hatched background coupled with a tendency to give his sitters almond-shaped eyes makes his work recognisable. This young lady has a soft glow to her cheeks and is wearing a white high-waisted gown with a frilled collar and narrow sleeves. Her brown curls are dressed with a matching white bandeau.

The portrait is set in a gold frame that is glazed on the reverse to reveal brown plaited hair.

Recent research has confirmed that Nicholas Freese was born around 1761 in Birmingham to a German father and an English mother but it was to London that he moved in order to practise as an artist. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1794 and 1814.

An interesting snippet published in John Bull in December 1825 records how Freese, who was living at Stamford Street in Blackfriars, was burgled one night losing portrait miniatures and spoons worth over £40. Fortunately the thief was apprehended two miles away and the goods recovered, though the sentence that was handed down was a harsh one.