Miss Mary Linwood (1755–1845), Artist in Needlework

Miss Mary Linwood from 1800 by John Hoppner depicts the celebrated needlework artist whose embroidered copies of famous paintings drew enormous crowds when exhibited in London. Linwood's extraordinary skill in reproducing Old Master paintings in worsted thread made her one of the most famous women in Georgian England. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays fluent, confident brushwork in the tradition of Reynolds, with a warm atmospheric palette and a gift for flattering likenesses that retained individual character.

The portrait captures the celebrated artist with Hoppner's characteristic atmospheric technique, rendering her features with the warmth and directness that made his portraits so appealing.