Georgiana Cuyler

This charming and unusual portrait shows Georgiana Cuyler as a scantily-clad child in a white slip and dainty blue slippers dancing with a chicken under her arm! The garden landscape features shady trees and a river with a hump-back bridge.

Records show that Georgiana was born in Welwyn in 1805 and was the fourth child of General Cornelius and Anna Cuyler. Both her parents had died before she reached her fifteenth birthday. Georgiana married Rev. Stephen Croft in December 1834. The couple had no children though she was well blessed with nieces and nephews.

A hand-written label dates the portrait to Dec. 21st 1810 – this will have been copied from the reverse side of the painting which is set behind convex glass in a giltwood frame with corner rosettes. The miniature is in fine condition; the bottom left rosette on the frame has been restored, the right one partially restored.

The daughter of a sculptor, Emma Eleanora Kendrick entered the RA Schools in 1808 and was later appointed miniature painter to William IV and to Princess Elizabeth, one of the six daughters of George III and Queen Charlotte. She exhibited miniatures at the Royal Academy. There are examples of her work in the Royal Collection.