Footnotes

Provenance:
The Twinight Collection

This exquisitely painted porcelain miniature is likely a copy of a miniature on ivory by Frederic Millet. A mezzotint after the original, the whereabouts of which are unknown, by William Giller dating to 1827 is in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG D4329). It was made for publishing in La Belle Assemblée, a magazine published from 1806-1837, known for its fashion plates of Regency-era styles, but also for its original poetry, and articles of fiction and non-fiction. It typically contained five plates; one depicting a member of the court or fashionable society, two depicting the latest fashions, and a further two providing sheet music and a sewing pattern.

Lady Stuart (1789-1867) was the wife of Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay (1779-1845), who was twice Ambassador to France and also served as Ambassador to Russia between 1841-1844. Briefly Ambassador to the Netherlands between February and May 1815, it was during his posting as Ambassador in Spain that Stuart became indispensable to the Duke of Wellington. At the Generals' insistence, he was appointed British Ambassador to France. During Napoleon's Hundred Days, he left Paris and was in Brussels at the start of the Waterloo Campaign. After the fall of Napoleon, he escorted the exiled French King Louis XVIII back to Paris, and became British Ambassador there until 1824. Charles and Elizabeth Stuart's access to the latest fashion from continental Europe goes some way in explaining the very elegant and rich dress and hat she wears in this portrait, likely dating some time after their marriage in 1816.

Elisabeth was also mother of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, and Charlotte, Viscountess Canning, who were both born in the Ambassador's Residence in Paris in 1817 and 1818 respectively. A painting of Elizabeth and her daughters is in the Government Art Collection and is on display at the British Ambassador's Residence in Paris.

The painter Adèle Hoguer was listed in the Almanach du Commerce of 1846, under the listing of paiters, decoraters and gilders working on porcelain and by Chavagnac-Grollier (1906) as having worked in 1840 as a Marchande on 69, Rue du Bac (see: W. Neuwirth, Porzellanmaler-Lexicon, Vol I, p.372). She is possibly the same as Mmlle Hocquier, listed as a painter at Sèvres in 1824 and 1830, see M. Brunet, T.Préaud, Sèvres, des Origines à Nos Jours (1978) p.369.