The Honorable Mrs Flower

The Hon. Mrs Flower married into an Anglo-Irish family whose family seats were Castle Durrow in Co. Laois and Beaumont Lodge in Old Windsor. This profile, taken around 1805, shows her as an elegantly dressed and fashionable lady in an empire-line dress edged with lace, her curled hair upswept with short curls framing her face.

The profile is painted on plaster and has been neatly bronzed by the master profilist John Field who worked alongside John Miers in his studio on The Strand. Theirs was a partnership and friendship of longstanding that continued until Miers died in 1821. The business was then willed jointly to Field and Miers’s son, William, but the dynamics had clearly been altered too much as within a few years the business filed for bankruptcy. Field continued to paint profiles during the 1830s but from a studio that he now shared with his own son.

The silhouette is presented in the original papier-mâché frame with convex glass, a decorative surround and ormolu leaf hanger. These frames were made exclusively for the business by William Miers. A fragment of the original trade label remains on the reverse. The silhouette is in fine condition though when viewed under a glass, there is evidence of tiny scattered spots of paint loss. The frame also has later taping to the reverse.