Delicately painted in 1817 on the reverse side of convex glass, this portrait depicts Barbara Isted wearing a sprigged dress with a multi-tiered lace fill-in and a frilly cap. Barbara was born in 1761 and was christened on 22 September that year, the day of King George III’s coronation. Her father was a vicar and a close friend of Samuel Johnson who wrote of him – he is ‘a man out of whose company I never go without having learned something’.Barbara married well, her husband being Sir Samuel Isted of Ecton Hall, Northamptonshire. Together they assembled a fine library and entertained lavishly. On one occasion over five hundred people, rich and poor, enjoyed ‘as comfortable a dinner as was ever cooked’ on their front lawn with dancing, rustic games and a firework display, all to celebrate peace. Barbara and Samuel had two children: their daughter died at just two years of age whilst their son and heir was born deaf and dumb.With nice costume detailing, the silhouette has a small...