Portrait of Lady Almeria Carpenter
by COSWAY, Richard, Oil on canvas, 128 x 102 cm
The painting portrays the sitter three-quarter-length, in a white dress with a chiffon shawl, in a landscape. Lady Almeria Carpenter (1752-1809) was the lady-in-waiting to Maria Walpole, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1736-1807). The Duchess was the granddaughter of Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745), considered to be the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, although the term itself was not officially recognised until 1905.