A Stylish Pair

These well-drawn half-length portraits may have been commissioned to mark the couple’s marriage during the late 1820s. Both portraits include great costume detail. The gentleman’s coat has a deep rolled collar and is worn over a waistcoat and a Royal George stock. The lady gazes out from her extravagantly frilled cap and has a broad lace pèlerine with a ruff collar over the shoulders of her wide-sleeved dress, her only jewel being a small gold brooch at her neck.

Both faces are beautifully painted in watercolour with the body of the portraits rendered in pencil. The portraits are presented in handsome flat profile bird’s eye maple frames with gilt slips. There is minor old loss to a couple of frame corners but otherwise these are in fine condition.