Elizabeth Diana Bridgeman (1764–1810), the Hon Mrs Gunning

Elizabeth Diana Bridgeman as a mythological figure from around 1784 by John Hoppner depicts the young woman in classical guise, a portrait convention that was fashionable in the late eighteenth century. Such mythological portraits elevated the sitter by association with goddesses and heroines of antiquity. 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 mythological portrait combines the classical costume and setting with individualized portrait features, rendered in Hoppner's atmospheric technique with attention to the allegorical elements.