This work formed part of an ancient collection of family heirlooms of the Wood family of Bracon Ash, Norfolk. This painting, along with another (also with Titan Fine Art at the time of writing) of our sitter�s sister, descended within the family for around 275 years until recently dispersed; they are exquisite examples of Georgian portraiture in England and represents the best of the artist�s work. They are held in their original carved and gilded frames, which are absolute top quality and condition and magnificent works of art in their own right. By tradition the sitter is Dorothy Wood. She was baptised 2nd June 1726, one of several children of Thomas Wood (1682-176) and Dorothy Huby (1700-1759). Her aunt, Jane Wood (1677-1756), was a Franciscan nun in Bruges. In 1758 her sister, also Jane (1727�1790), whose portrait is also with Titan Fine Art at the time of writing, married Knipe Gobbet (1730/5-1791) who was Sheriff in 1768 (and Mayor in 1771) of the City of Norwich, and later Lieutenant-Colonel of the West Norfolk Regiment, in which corps he had served in for many years. Although the Wood family were Roman Catholics Knipe was a prominent local wine merchant, JP, Alderman, sheriff, mayor and Lieutenant. Roman Catholics may have paid lip service to religious conformity as they were excluded from certain areas of public life before the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. Their oldest daughter, Anne (1760-1817) famously married Dr William Compton (1733-1824), the Chancellor of Ely and the next collateral male relation to the Earl of Northampton, in 1799, in a lavish ceremony on board the Foudroyant, off Naples, where the bride was given away by the Right Hon. Lord Nelson himself. The marriage document, signed by Lord Nelson, Lady Emma Hamilton, Captain Thomas Hardy, and others descended within the family, until recently sold, in a sale that raised worldwide interest, for �20,160. It accounts that William Compton received ''a great many favours and k...