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Gilt-metal frame inscribed on reverse with the sitter's details

Lady Louisa Grey was born in St James, London, and was the daughter of George Harry Grey 5th Earl of Stamford, 1st Earl of Warrington (1837-1819) and Henrietta Cavendish Bentinck (1737-1827), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Portland.

Not much can be gleaned about the life of Louisa although it appears, through her presence in numerous court circular columns in The Times newspaper, that she was a well-known and popular lady of title. Louisa was one of ten children, her eldest brother George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford and 2nd Earl of Warrington, inheriting the family seat of Dunham Massey in Cheshire where Louisa died in March 1830 unmarried.

Given that Louisa died at the age of fifty-nine, and appears to be around thirty or younger in the present work, we can assume therefore that it was painted around the turn of the century and therefore occupies a significant position in Plimer’s oeuvre as one of the earlier works of large dimensions he undertook after c.1789. Based on the apparent success of these earlier examples, Plimer used large ivories more frequently from 1800 onwards, a fine example of a gentleman in a pale green jacket is currently with Philip Mould & Company.