Beschreibung:

large miniature portrait, oil and bodycolour on ivory, the subject depicted seated in a red upholstered open armchair, her dark hair arranged loosely in ringlets falling across her decolletage, wearing a brown velvet dress edged in lace and blue satin, and adorned with turquoise and pearl mounted jewellery, in a fitted Moroccan leather case 22.9 x 15.9cm sight size Note: The stylish and striking sitter for this portrait is Mary Gavin Campbell, wife of John Campbell the 1st Marquess of Breadalbane, whom she married in 1793. After her marriage she was styled Countess of Breadalbane and Holland, and from 1831, Marchioness of Breadalbane. She died in 1845. The miniature portrait is recorded in the Christie, Manson & Woods 1863 Inventory of Taymouth Castle as hanging in the Tapestry Sitting Room, item 446. William Charles Ross artistic talent was recognised and encouraged from an early age by his parents, both of whom were accomplished portrait painters. Ross' glossy style was influenced by Andrew Robertson to whom he was apprenticed in 1814. In 1817 he established his own studio in London and quickly made a name for himself with prominent commissions. His growing list of important sitters included the prime minister and the queen’s uncle, and in 1837 Queen Victoria herself commissioned a portrait. She declared it ‘very like and very well painted’ and appointed Ross as Miniature Painter to the Queen, a position providing the opportunity to portray sitters from royal families throughout Europe. Ross was knighted in 1842.