Lot 28: William Essex (British, 1784-1869) Lady Charlotte Greville (née Bentinck) (1775-1862), wearing dark red dress, the neckline trimmed with white lace, her curling brown hair upswept beneath a white turban

Lady Charlotte Greville (née Bentinck) (1775-1862), wearing dark red dress, the neckline trimmed with white lace, her curling brown hair upswept beneath a white turban.
Enamel, signed on the obverse and dated W. Essex/ Pinx.υt 1839, signed and inscribed on the counter-enamel Lady Charlotte Greville./ From a Sketch by Sir T. Lawrence./ by W: Essex. Enamel painter/ To Her Majesty & Her/ R.H. The Princess Augusta, gilt-metal frame.
Oval, 92mm (3 5/8in) high

Lady Charlotte, daughter of William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland and Lady Dorothy Cavendish, married Captain Charles Greville, son of Fulke Greville and Frances Macartney, on 31 March 1793.

The present lot derives from an unfinished portrait of Lady Charlotte painted circa 1820-5 that hangs at Goodwood House. The prototype shows only the turbaned head of the sitter against a blank canvas background so in producing the present portrait Essex has invented the dress and background of his own fruition. The present lot is probably the portrait by Essex of an unidentified Lady after Lawrence exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840 (no.906).