Pretty in White

An appealing late 18th century portrait of an unnamed young lady set against a clouded blue sky backdrop. She is wearing a white cross-over dress and pretty white flecked mob cap trimmed with lace. Her brown hair is arranged in soft curls falling to her shoulders.

The portrait is set in the original frame, the reverse glazed to reveal a spray of brown hair with a seed pearls surrounding an oval blue glass plaque with the initial B on opalescent glass. Most of the seed pearls forming the initial have fallen away though the shadow of the B remains visible.

Born in 1757, Nathaniel Plimer was the eldest son of a Shropshire clockmaker but it was not a business that he wished to pursue so, together with his brother Andrew, he fled from home and spent two years travelling with gypsies. Reaching London, he went into service with the enamelist Henry Bone and had drawing lessons from Richard Cosway. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1787 and 1815. Only his earliest work was signed.