Hugh Douglas Hamilton (c.1739-1808)

The Irish portrait painter Hugh Douglas Hamilton was born in Dublin, Ireland around 1724, the son of a peruke-maker. He studied drawing and painting under Robert West at the Royal Dublin Society art school in George's Lane, winning several awards, after which he began to specialize in small-scale portraiture in crayon and pastels. Typically oval in shape, his portraits were some 9 inches by 7 inches in size, outlined on grey paper in black and white and completed with coloured chalks. In general, his colour schemes were very simple, but his faces were always well-drawn, with expressive eyes.

In about 1764, Hamilton moved to London and gained rapid recognition for his narrative oi...