A sensitively rendered and highly decorative portrait of Lady Margaret by the celebrated 18th century English portrait painter Thomas Gibson. Signed Thomas Gibson Pinxt 1727 this fine portrait is typical of the early 18th century formula for head and shoulder portraits of aristocratic beauties.The sitter (Lady Margaret �. according to the tantalising reminders of a label verso) is depicted half length within an oval cartouche her head slightly inclined to the left and she gazes at us with soft and pleasing expression. She wears a deep blue dress over a frilled white chemise which is held in place with a single pearl, and around her shoulders is a scarlet silk wrap.The young and attractive subject has bright grey/blue eyes, flushed cheeks and chestnut hair which tumbles naturalistically around her shoulders. Of particular note are her creamy complexion and also her classically draped costume which both retain their original colour remarkably well.Thomas Gibson (1680-1751). Gibson was a celebrated English portrait painter. In 1711 he was appointed a founding director of Godfrey Kneller''s Academy in London; among his pupils there was George Vertue. Gibson''s sitters included a number of important public figures: Dr Henry Sacheverell (1710; Oxford, Magdalen Coll.), John Flamsteed (1712; Oxford, Bodleian Lib.), Sir Robert Walpole (untraced; engr. G. Bockman), Archbishop William Wake (Oxford, Christ Church Picture Gallery) and Archbishop John Potter (London, Lambeth Palace). His most constant patron was John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett (1663�1743), who commissioned a great number of originals and copies. Gibson''s career was interrupted in 1729-31 by serious illness, and he was obliged to sell his collection and for a time retire to Oxford. After resuming his practice he was patronised by Augusta, Princess of Wales, who in 1742 commissioned a group portrait of her four children, as...