PORTRAIT OF A LADY, POSSIBLY CHARLOTTE MYDDELTON (1720-1843)

Charlotte, the presumed sitter, was the daughter of Richard Myddelton (1726-1795) and his wife Elizabeth Rushout (see lot 81), daughter of Sir John Rushout, 4th Bt, and sister of Lord Northwick of Wanstead, Essex. She married Robert Biddulph in 1801, when he assumed the name of Myddelton (see lot 107). On the death of her father the Chirk estate was divided between Charlotte and her two sisters. After her husband's death in 1814 she continued to run the estate for another twenty-eight years.

Hugh Douglas Hamilton was born in Dublin circa 1740. He trained with Robert West before moving to London in the early 1760s. His pastel portraits were much in demand and early in his career he received Royal commissions for members of the Royal family. He went to work in Italy, spending 13 years in Florence and Rome, where he formed part of a large circle of artists such as John Flaxman and Antonio Canova; here again his portraits became very popular, and he attracted commissions from Grand Tourists and their families. He returned to Dublin in the early 1790s. His later works were in oil rather than pastel. He died in Dublin on 10th February1808.

This is possibly one of the portraits referred to in the 1795 Inventory: '9 small portraits in Crayon Glaz'd - 10 6 0'