This pastel portrait of a fashionable young Georgian woman in an ostrich feather hat and blue coat with her dog by by Lewis Vaslet sold for £1900 at Golding Young & Mawer.
According to a label to the base of the frame, the sitter is Mary Mortimer (1764- 1826), with her impressively named spaniel, Sir Philip Marramat.
It was created in 1784 by Lewis Vaslet (1742-1808), also known as ‘Vaslet of Bath’, a portrait painter who worked primarily in miniature oval pastels and was inspired by the renowned Irish pastellist, Hugh Douglas Hamilton (c.1740-1808).
The 2ft 1in x 19½in (64 x 50cm) oil pastel is unusually large for an artist best known for his miniatures, and depicts the subject quarter-length, in contrast to his more customary head and shoulder compositions. It sold on January 18 for £1900 against a £1500-2500 estimate.
