Little Irish Boy

Given that this miniature was painted in Ireland, it seems appropriate for the little boy to be wearing an olive green coat with a matching waistcoat. The effect is lightened by the delicate lacy white collar of his shirt and the porcelain tones of his face. The portrait would have been painted for his doting mother to wear on her wrist.

The portrait is signed and dated – Hamn / 1769 – and is set in the original gold bracelet frame. The frame lacks the bottom clasp.

The son of an Irish vicar, Hamilton studied at the Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools. He spent all his working life in Dublin where he attracted a fashionable clientele.