Alicia Maria Carpenter, Countess of Egremont (1729 – 1794) (the face after Liotard)

Phillips's 1799 portrait of Alicia Maria Carpenter, Countess of Egremont, with the face partly based on an earlier work by Liotard, demonstrates the practice of composite portraiture in which a later painter completed or reconstructed a portrait using an earlier image for the face. Jean-Étienne Liotard, the Swiss pastel master who had worked in England earlier in the century, had produced the facial reference that Phillips incorporated into his more contemporary setting and costume. This kind of collaborative or retrospective portraiture was particularly relevant for aristocratic families wishing to document deceased or elderly members whose physical presence could no longer be directly observed.

The composite nature of the portrait—Phillips's composition incorporating Liotard's face—creates an interesting technical hybrid. Phillips adapts his own handling to accommodate the earlier artist's characterization while providing a new costume and setting. The result serves its function as a family portrait while revealing the layered process of aristocratic portraiture.