Oil on canvas in an 18th century gilt frame.A fine and sensitive portrait of a girl on the cusp of womanhood; expensively and fashionably dressed, she looks out at us with a quiet confidence.Knapton managed to invest his clients with an air of distinction without them looking aloof.GEORGE KNAPTON (1698–1778) was an English portrait painter, he was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, the son of William Knapton Esquire of Brockenhurst, Hampshire. He studied art under Jonathan Richardson, then at the St. Martin''s Lane Academy. He spent some years in Italy where he became known as a sound judge of the works of the Old Masters. An account of his visit to Herculaneum was published in the ''Philosophical Transactions'' of 1740 (no. 458).Knapton was an original member of the ''Society of Dilettanti'' and their first portrait artist. He painted many members of the society, including the Duke of Dorset, Viscount Galway, Sir Francis Dashwood, the Earl of Holdernesse, Earl of Bessbor...