Miss Athill

With large brown eyes that give her a wistful look, this young lady from the Athill Family sits before a red drape wearing a lightweight pelisse over an elegant dress richly trimmed with lace and tied with a bow on the high waistline. Her fashionable cropped curls frame her face.

In fine condition, the portrait is set in the original frame that is glazed on the back to show thickly plaited brown hair.

Born in Liverpool in 1797 to Thomas Hargreaves and his wife Sophia Shaw, George Thomas Hargreaves followed in his father’s footsteps when he took up miniature painting. In April 1824 he eloped with 17-year old Esther Fargher Quayle, marrying her at Gretna Green. It would seem that their families quickly forgave the couple though as they were married again back home in Liverpool the following month with the permission of Esther’s father and a special license. The couple had a daughter, Sophia, and a son, George Aubrey, who both became music teachers. George Sen. spent most of his working life in Liverpool painting miniatures and teaching drawing. He died in 1869 at the age of 72.