Lot 26: Archibald Skirving (Scottish, 1749-1819) A Lady, wearing white dress trimmed with blue ribbon at the waist, corsage, upper arm and shoulder, black and white lace trim around the neckline and black lace cuff, beaded necklace and white bandeau in her

A Lady, wearing white dress trimmed with blue ribbon at the waist, corsage, upper arm and shoulder, black and white lace trim around the neckline and black lace cuff, beaded necklace and white bandeau in her long powdered hair, she holds a mask in her left hand.
Gold frame, the reverse with gold monogram OR on gold mounted blue glass within plaited hair border and outer gold mounted blue glass border.
Oval, 75mm (2 15/16in) high
Provenance: Sotheby's, 12 March 1984, lot 155
Christie's, 23 May 1989, lot 111
Exhibited: Raeburn's Rival: Archibald Skirving 1749-1819, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 22 January - 5 April 1999, no.31
Exhibited: Portrait Miniatures from the Merchiston Collection, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 23 September – 11 December 2005, no.24
Literature: Stephen Lloyd, Exhibition Catalogue, 1999, p.58
Literature: Stephen Lloyd, Exhibition Catalogue, 2005, p.62

When Skirving moved to London in late 1777 in order to establish himself as a miniaturist, he adopted the light palette and pale blue sky background made popular by artists such as Richard Cosway. This more whimsical approach to portrait painting must have been at odds with Skirving's natural inclination to paint more realistic and blunt portraits and by the mid 1780s, having failed to make his mark on the London scene, he had returned to Edinburgh.

The present lot falls into a small body of work by Skirving that can all be confidently ascribed to him on the basis of their similarity to his portrait of a Lady holding a letter, signed and dated 'Skirving/ 1780' in the Victoria & Albert Museum (see Daphne Foskett, Collecting Miniatures, 1979, col.pl.20E). Two further works in private collections that fall into this group of portraits depict Anne and May Biddulph, daughters of Michael Biddulph of Ledbury (see Ibid, col.pl.27A; and Stephen Lloyd, Raeburn's Rival: Archibald Skirving 1749-1819, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Exhibition Catalogue, 1999, no.35, col.pl.4).