A Devon Lass

This charming little portrait dated May 1828 was painted by the lesser known Devon artist James Tremlett and may depict his own daughter. She is shown wearing a pretty dress trimmed with lace and blue ribbon. She has a coral beaded necklace to keep her safe from any evil spirits and is holding a single pink rose.

Painted in watercolour on card with a partially clipped signature reverse.  In fine condition, the portrait is presented in a period giltwood frame. The frame has some old cracking to the joints and the inner mount and minor chips to the gilding along the bottom edge but is otherwise stable and fine.

Although recorded as a miniature painter, little is known about John Tremlett. His career overlapped with the introduction of photography and so by the late 1840s he was advertising photographic portraits on ivory “finished personally in oils or water colours”.