Hester Mills

This confidently painted portrait of Hester Mills was probably commissioned to mark her marriage around 1815. She is shown wearing a white empire-line dress with a square neckline and narrow sleeves with a burnt orange cloak draped over one shoulder. Her hair has been curled and swept up with small curls framing her strongly-featured face.

Hester was the wife of the Rev. Thomas Mills, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and vicar of Helions Bumpstead in Essex.

The portrait is signed on the obverse and is set in the original frame that is glazed on the reveres to reveal brown silk. There is some dust under the glass but otherwise in fine condition.

Having worked first in Cape Town and Philadelphia, the well-travelled William Haines (1778-1848) returned eventually to settle and work in Chichester. He exhibited portrait miniatures between 1808 and 1840.