Anna Isabella Milbanke (1792–1860) (later Lady Byron)

Anna Isabella Milbanke, later Lady Byron from 1800 by John Hoppner depicts the woman who would become the wife of the poet Lord Byron in 1815. This portrait was painted before her famous and unhappy marriage, capturing her in the innocence of girlhood before the scandalous events that would define her public reputation. 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 of the young woman is rendered with particular delicacy, Hoppner's fluid technique capturing her youthful features with a softness appropriate to her age.