Miss Walker

Thankfully someone well-acquainted with the young lady in this small portrait had the foresight to record her story on the reverse of the frame. Wearing a white décolleté gown and with a long diaphanous veil secured with a pearl clasp to her upswept hair, Miss Anne Walker is gazing serenely back at us through the centuries. The contemporary inscription reads:

“Miss Anne Walker, second Daughter of Edward Walker, Alderman & Mayor of Exeter; by Anne, youngest Daughter of The Honble & Rev Charles Bertie Rector of Kenn– Devon. In October 1780, A:W: married to the Revd William Woollcombe of Oriel Col: Oxford and Rector of East Worlington Devon & Prebendary of Exr [Exeter] Cathedral. She died in Child Bed in Febry 22, 1790 leaving 5 Sons & Daughters. He in April 1796. Both buried at East Worlington. He left one Daughter by a second wife By name Frances Eleanora, now Mrs B. Bingham of Melcon? Dorset.”

Painted in oil on canvas laid on an oak panel, the portrait is held in the original giltwood frame and is glazed with a giltwood mount. The painting is in fine condition with minor age-crazing but no paint loss. The frame is somewhat shabby chic though with tiny losses to the inner decorative border and discolouration to the gilding.