Artwork
Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley

Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley is an unspecified painting by the British Romanticist artist Horace Hone. It dates from 1796 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Executed as a painting, it measures 52 cm in height by 41 cm in width and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The work titled Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley, is a small‑scale portrait miniature painted in 1791 by the British artist Horace Hone. Executed as a painting, it measures 52 cm in height by 41 cm in width and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The piece belongs to the portrait genre and is catalogued as a miniature, suggesting a tightly rendered composition typical of elite British portraiture of the period.
Its formal qualities include a restrained palette, delicate modeling of facial features, and an emphasis on aristocratic poise, reflecting the stylistic conventions of late‑18th‑century portrait miniatures.
History & Provenance
Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley, painted by Horace Hone in 1791, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work is catalogued as a miniature portrait within the museum’s collection, though the specific inventory or accession number is not disclosed in the available documentation. No exhibition records are cited in the sources, indicating that the painting’s public display history has not been documented in the provided references.
Context
The 1791 portrait, attributed to British miniaturist Horace Hone, exemplifies the refined portraiture of the late Georgian period and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, underscoring its recognized significance within British art history; scholarly attention to Hone’s body of work highlights this piece as a representative example of his skill in rendering delicate likenesses within the miniature genre, situating it among the leading portrait miniatures of the era.
Overview
This small oval painting, created by Horace Hone in 1796, depicts a woman identified as Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley. Currently housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the work is an intimate portrait, designed to be held or worn. Its diminutive scale and focused composition draw attention to the sitter's serene presence, characteristic of personal keepsakes from the period.
Subject & Meaning
The sitter, possibly Lady Agnes Anne Wrothesley, is presented with light hair styled in soft curls, complementing her high-necked white dress adorned with ruffles. Her expression conveys a gentle composure. The artist employs a plain, dark background to ensure the viewer's focus remains entirely on the woman's features, emphasizing her individual character within this personal format and suggesting a private, rather than public, purpose for the image.
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