Mr Aspinall

The pale blue hatched background is effective in emphasising the porcelain skin tones of this gentleman traditionally identified as Mr Aspinall. Wearing a chocolate brown coat with traces of hair powder on his shoulder, he gazes steadily out with a smile hovering on his lips.

The portrait is signed lower left with the artist’s initials – T . H – and resides in the original gold fausee-montre frame that is enclosed at the back. Excellent condition.

Having been a pupil to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Hazlehurst spent his working life in his native Liverpool where he would have been assured of a steady clientele of newly prosperous gentlemen and their families. He and his wife had a large family; his eldest son also became a miniaturist but died at a young age.