The Artist at Work

This profile portrait shows the artist’s friend, another young female artist, concentrating as she wields her brush. The portrait is dated Oct 25th and the lady is named as Miss Casamajor.

The talented artist was Lady Augusta Minna Lyons Howard (1821-1886), daughter of Sir Edmund Lyons, British minister to Greece. It was in Greece that Lady Augusta met her future husband, Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard (later the 14th Duke of Norfolk). Whilst a guest, Lord Fitzalan fell ill and was taken care of by Lady Augusta with whom he then fell in love. The pair married in 1839 and together had eleven children.

Drawn in pencil with bodycolour and having been rescued from a distressed album of Lady Augusta’s work, this well-studied portrait is presented in a period dark wood frame.