Portrait of a Lady

An unidentified lady of quality appears in this portrait from around 1810, now at Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley. Anonymous female portraits form a significant portion of Shee"s surviving output, as identifying sitters requires provenance research that has not always been completed. Women of the professional and gentry classes formed an important part of Shee"s clientele, and his female portraits often show a more sympathetic approach than his somewhat rigid male likenesses.

Shee presents the sitter in fashionable Regency-era dress, with the high waistline and flowing fabric of the period providing opportunities for painterly passages. The palette is lighter than his male portraits, with the white muslin of the dress creating a luminous central area. Female portraits brought out a softer quality in Shee"s brushwork, with gentler transitions of tone in the face and more attention to the decorative qualities of hair, jewelry, and fabric.