No Guinea Pig!

Andrew Plimer has certainly captured the self-assurity of his sitter in this portrait as well as conveying his air of superciliousness. Pre-dating the introduction of the powder tax of 1795, the gentleman is shown wearing a pigtail wig, the powder from which has fallen onto the collar and shoulder of his brown coat.

The portrait is housed in a gilt metal frame with a fausse-montre hanger that is enclosed on the back.

Andrew Plimer (1763-1837) was the son of a Shropshire clockmaker, a trade he and his older brother were expected to assume to. But the two boys had different ideas and so ran away from home, eventually reaching London where Andrew had the good fortune to be taken on as a valet to the famed miniature painter Richard Cosway who, recognising the young man’s budding talent, arranged painting lessons for him. Plimer set up his own studio in 1785 and exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1786 and 1830.