CIRCLE OF MATTHEW WILLIAM PETERS (FRESHWATER 1742-1814 BRASTED PLACE, KENT)

The composition follows a portrait of Miss Mortimer as the goddess Hebe by Matthew William Peters, painted in 1778 (Sotheby’s, London, 24 November 1999, lot 56). The inscription, ‘MISS HEYWOOD’, may suggest a link to one of the famed society beauties and sisters Fanny or Sophia Heywood. Both sat to leading portraitists of the late eighteenth century, with Fanny (then Mrs Hunter) sitting to John Hoppner in circa 1800, and her sister Sophia (then Mrs Musters) sitting twice to Sir Joshua Reynolds, on one of these occasions in the guise of Hebe herself (1785; London, Kenwood House).