Hair à la Mode

Although most Regency ladies had long hair that was typically curled and arranged in elaborate up-dos, some younger girls, such as the sitter in this portrait, followed the new fashion for cropped hair which she has chosen to brush forward around her face to create a most striking look. Her sheer empire-line dress, worn without any fill-in, dates the portrait to about 1805 to 1810. Around her shoulders can be seen a barely-there dark cloak.

The portrait is signed bottom right T.H. and is set in a brass frame that is enclosed at the back with a brass plate.

Having reputedly been a pupil to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Hazlehurst spent his working life in his native Liverpool where he would have been assured of a steady clientele of newly prosperous gentlemen and their families. He married 19-year-old Martha Bentley of Rostherne in Cheshire in 1783 and with her had a large family – the eldest, Sarah, being born in 1786 and the youngest, Eliza Eleanor, born in 1806.

Ivory Registration: 94NQPS41