This portrait miniature is a moving tribute to the highly personal nature of the format. Small enough to be held in the hand and portable, intimate miniatures such as this were typically worn on one’s person - on a chain like a fob-watch or housed in jewellery. Miniatures were often exchanged between family members at times of separation or in mourning, hence, since the English Civil War, many were commissioned in memory of loved ones serving in the military. The present example is housed in a frame bearing the inscription on the obverse, ‘In memory of my Lamented Brother 1803’.  

Richard Cosway was one of the greatest miniaturists of the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - the period considered by many to be ‘the heyday’ of British miniature painting. He was artistically, commercially and socially a great success: he quickly rose to be the most sought-after miniaturist in London, was appointed ‘Miniaturist of the Prince of Wales’ circa 1786, and became a personal friend of the Prince, later King George IV.

Although the inscription on the frame dates to 1803, this miniature would have been painted earlier in Cosway’s career, from life, and the inscription added later. The style of brushwork and size of the miniature date this portrait to circa 1780, before Cosway’s style because looser and the ivories larger. Cosway was responsible for developing the sky background, which can be seen here in its early, quieter stage. By the time the present work was painted, Cosway was entering the phase in his career which would produce his finest works.