Golden Tresses

William Armfield Hobday

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Painted around 1800 and set against a cloudy blue sky background, this young lady has soulful brown eyes and long blonde curls secured with a bandeau. She wears a traditional style of décoletté dress with a frilled neckline and a blue ribbon sash.

The portrait is in good condition and is set in the original gold frame that is glazed on the back to show plaited brown hair. There are a couple of short scratches to the front glass and a small area of discolouration to the hair on the back, perhaps the result of over-enthusiastic polishing!

The eldest son of a Birmingham spoon manufacturer, Hobday (1771-1831) was eighteen when he entered the Royal Academy Schools. He subsequently worked in London, Bath and Bristol attracting a fashionable clientele but also leading an extravagant lifestyle that in 1829 resulted in his bankruptcy.

Item Ref. 7154

Size: framed, 77 x 62mm + hanger