George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)

Commissioned from Romney in 1777, this charming portrait of the youthful Elizabeth Ramus was executed at a key moment in the artist's career when, having returned in 1775 from a formative two-year tour of Italy, Romney took the leasehold on Francis Cotes's house and studio at 24 Cavendish Square, and launched his career as a leading society portrait painter, in competition with Reynolds and Gainsborough. Romney's sitter books between 1776 and 1795 record a staggering 1,500 sitters, many of whom commissioned two or three portraits.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Nicholas Ramus, a senior Page to King George III. Many members of the Ramus family, which was of Swiss extraction, served at the Court of George III: Isaac and William Ramus are recorded as Pages of the Back Stairs to His Majesty; Thomas Ramus was a Page of the Bed-Chamber; and Charles, Joseph and Louis all held offices in His Majesty's Kitchen. Romney painted a portrait of Nicholas Ramus's eldest daughter, Benedetta, which was offered as lot 79 in the 1882 sale. The two sisters also sat to Gainsborough for a double portrait, which was sold at Christie's in 1873 and again in 1889, when it was acquired by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. It was later destroyed in a fire at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.