Portrait of a Young Lady

Andrew Plimer · c. 1790/95

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

8.9 × 7.3 cm (3 1/2 × 2 7/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Neoclassicism

Andrew Plimer's *Portrait of a Young Lady*, painted around 1790–95 and now held at the Art Institute of Chicago, captures the composed elegance of Georgian womanhood with a stillness that continues to draw the eye. Plimer trained under Richard Cosway, the era's foremost portrait miniaturist, and carried that tradition's sensitivity into every sitter he depicted — a finely observed directness of gaze, a luminous rendering of skin and silk, and a restrained palette that keeps attention on the face. His work occupies a fascinating position between the grand tradition of British portraiture and the intimate scale of the miniature, giving even his larger paintings a sense of close personal attention. The sitter here, though unidentified, is presented with the careful dignity typical of late eighteenth-century commissioned portraiture. Notably, Plimer and his brother Nathaniel both trained under Cosway and went on to build substantial reputations as portrait artists — a sibling pair whose careers ran in close parallel through London's fashionable circles. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is made by professional artists working directly from the original, preserving the tonal subtlety and intimate presence that have kept this portrait compelling for more than two centuries.