A Liverpool Lady

Painted in 1837, the year of Queen Victoria’s coronation, this young lady wears a black dress with a pleated bodice and belted waistline with a cornflower blue wrap, her dark hair in fashionable ringlets. She sits before a classical column with a red drape to the side.

The portrait is signed I.T. bottom right and in full on the reverse. It is set in a quality gold plated frame that is glazed on the reverse to show the artist’s signature. Both the miniature and the frame are in fine condition.

John Turmeau was born in 1777 into an artistic family, his father being a jeweller and his grandfather an artist. He was only 17 years old when he first exhibited at the Royal Academy. As a young man he moved to Liverpool where he married Sarah Wheeler and with her had seven children including twin girls. Turmeau was a founding member of the Liverpool Academy. He also ran a print shop and, strangely, a tobacconist shop and glass warehouse. Turmeau’s work is critically acclaimed for its draughtsmanship. Following his death in 1846, Turmeau’s widow continued to run the tobacconist shop.

Ivory Registration: RPFEH4LR