Miles Barton Art and Interiors has dated this Georgian Female Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.
This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.
Framed: 45 x 39 cm (17 ¾ x 15 ¼ in)
Image Size: 33 x 26 cm (13 x 10 ¼ in)
Provenance: English Private Collection
She grew up largely in Italy, where her father frequented expatriate social circles. In June 1775, she married the 3rd Earl Cowper in Florence. Her husband was a prominent and incredibly wealthy British art collector and patron who preferred living a lavish life in Tuscany over returning to his estates in England and together they lived at the Villa Palmieri in Fiesole, overlooking Florence.
Resident in Florence from 1774 Hugh Douglas Hamilton is known to have drawn his pastel portrait of her in 1784. Notwithstanding her marriage to Earl Cooper in 1775, she was an object of fascination for many male visitors to the city and the pastel makes the most of her considerable physical allure. A fellow British tourist, Thomas Brand, wrote in 1784 ‘she is the most beautiful woman I ever saw’. Amongst her other dalliances, Lady Cooper famously conducted a tumultuous affair with the poet Robert Merry around the time she sat for the portrait and Brand later attested that the pastel was considered such a success that it was copied by Anna Tonelli possibly more than once. This portrait is possibly one of those copies that she undertook at the time.
Anna Tonelli née Nistri was a portraitist in pastel and watercolour in the late 18th century and early 19th century primarily in Florence and London. At some stage before 1785 she married the violinist Luigi Tonelli, a noted virtuoso. Her works are relatively scarce and are still being discovered. For many years her pastel portraits have been confused with that of Hugh Douglas Hamilton whose pupil she was.
Miles Barton Art and Interiors has dated this Georgian Female Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.
This is an independent date report produced by Sellingantiques using its own proprietary system. The process uses the photographs shown on this page. The system is never told the date the dealer has declared. This report shows that the two dates corroborate.
British and european pictures and works of art from the 17th to 20th century
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Miles Barton Art and Interiors Profile Page
Portrait of Lady Hannah Cowper Attributed to Anna Tonelli Circa 1785
