Possibly Elizabeth Hamilton, Mrs John Cameron of Glenkindy, later the Comtesse de Fay

Reynolds painted this female subject, possibly Elizabeth Hamilton, around 1753, one of his earliest post-Italian works and therefore among the first paintings to show the decisive influence of his Continental study. The uncertainty of the identification — 'possibly Elizabeth Hamilton' — reflects the broader challenge of establishing provenance for Reynolds's works from this early period, before his studio's record-keeping became more systematic. The portrait demonstrates the new warmth of tonality and the more assured compositional approach that distinguished Reynolds's post-Italian work from his earlier manner: the influence of Titian's female portraits, in particular, is visible in the soft, luminous handling of the face and in the integration of figure and setting that gives the composition its easy naturalness. Reynolds returned from Italy in October 1752 with a transformed artistic vocabulary and an ambition to recast British portraiture in the image of Continental grand manner painting. The works of 1753 and 1754 represent the earliest applications of that ambition to actual commissions, making them crucial documents in the history of British painting's engagement with the Italian tradition.

The portrait presents the sitter with developing elegance. Reynolds's early handling shows his emerging mastery of the female portrait.