Attr. Ozias Humphry R.A. 1742-1810. English School 18th.Century, Portrait study of a young woman. Circa.1780. Indistinct inscription to old backing identifies the sitter as Julia Eyre born ca.1760- d.1780. Married 1779 to Robert Auriol Hay Drummond 1751-1804 10th Earl of Kinnoull. Pencil on paper laid onto card. 15.5 by 19.5 cms. Provenance: Davies-Cooke Collection Gwysaney Hall North Wales.
Born at Honiton, Devon, Humphry worked for a time as a miniaturist in Bath. He settled in London in 1764 on the encouragement of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1772 a riding accident that affected his eyes made him abandon miniatures and after a visit to Italy to between 1773–7 with George Romney he practised in oils. From 1785 to 1788 he was in India, where he resumed miniature painting, but again he found the work too great a strain for his eyes. He then took up pastel and in this medium was highly successful (being given the title of ‘Portrait Painter in Crayons to His Majesty’ in 1792). He went blind in 1797.