Mrs Turner

This wonderfully engaging portrait shows an elegant young Regency lady with cherry red lips wearing a white décolleté dress, her blonde hair curled swept up with ringlets framing her face.

Painted in watercolour with pencil on card, it is signed bottom left (partially obscured by the frame) ‘Adam Buck 1821’. It is additionally signed on the reverse – ‘Mrs Turner / née Tucker / by / Adam Buck / 1821’. The portrait is set with convex glass in an oval gilt metal frame backed with navy velvet. Unfortunately, without her Christian name it has not been possible to trace our Mrs Turner.

Adam Buck (1759-1833) was an Irish-born portrait painter, print-maker and miniaturist who migrated to London around 1795 where he acquired a fashionable clientele. He is best known for his idealized images of mothers and children; these were readily available during the early 19th century as prints and so became popular templates for young ladies to copy in needlework and watercolour. He exhibited miniatures and watercolour portraits at the Royal Academy between 1796 and 1833.