Portrait of a Woman

About this work

This is a tiny portrait of a woman with soft curls, pearls woven into her hair, and a simple white dress. The background looks like a stormy sky sketched in quick gray lines. The dress is made of thin cotton, gathered high under her chest—fashion borrowed from ancient Greece. Plimer painted dozens of women in the same style, so this wasn’t just one person’s outfit; it was the look of the moment. The crosshatching in the sky isn’t just shading—it’s a quick way to suggest depth without spending hours on detail. To see more of these delicate miniatures, look up other works in the subject: england, 18th century.