Stiff Frills

There is a freshness to this young lady’s complexion that suggests this may be a coming of age portrait. Her powdered hair is worn in loose curls in a popular style that was known as à la conseilleur. False hair was often added to enhance the effect. The bodice of her dress would have been stiffened with whale bone and the frills wired in a style that points towards 1780-1790.

The portrait is well painted and is set in a gold frame that is glazed on the reverse to show foiled opalescent glass with a central aperture with the initials JW laid on finely plaited hair. The frame is erroneously engraved ‘Shelley’ on the tope edge.