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Henry Spicer, miniaturist, enamel painter and engraver, was born in Reepham, Norfolk in 1742 and was the pupil of Gervase Spencer and the teacher of William Birch (1755-1834), the artist who may have introduced the art of enamel portraits to America. He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain and was appointed secretary in 1773. In 1770 he was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries and exhibited for the first time in the Royal Academy in 1774. He later relocated to Dublin where he lived for several years, returning to London in 1782.

The present work is relatively late for Spicer and its large size is an indication of how he had mastered the art of enamelling (a notoriously challenging technique, particularly on a larger scale). The sitter is painted in a grand setting that in reality may have been the artist’s studio. on a gilt-edged red upholstered chair with a red velvet curtain behind her. The composition is close to that used by oil portraitists of the period.

The portrait has been catalogued in the past as representing the artist’s wife, although there are few clues to qualify this suggestion. Spicer certainly had two daughters, likely born in the mid-1770s (both were exhibiting at the R.A. from the family address between 1799 and 1803). The age of the female sitter shown in the miniature around the lady’s neck in this portrait is hard to tell, but they are certainly young, possibly in their teens. The letter and prominently displayed mourning ring would indicate that this was a woman recently bereaved, the news of the death conveyed in the letter in her hands. However, this reading is somewhat mitigated by the sitter’s expression, where a slight smile hovers on her lips.

Spicer painted the Duke of Northumberland, the Earl of Moira, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the actress Sarah Siddons and Lord Nelson and amongst his friends were George Stubbs, William Hamilton and Ozias Humphry, a fellow miniaturist who lodged with the Spicers until his own death in 1810. He was appointed painter on enamel to the Prince of Wales in 1790 and, as noted, had two daughters who both followed his profession, Miss M.A. Spicer and Miss J. Spicer.[1]

[1] L.R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, (Graz, 1964), p.777; D. Foskett, Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide, (Woodbridge, 1990), p.654.