Portrait of a young man, thought to be one of the artist's sons thumbnail 1
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Portrait of a young man, thought to be one of the artist's sons

Portrait Miniature
ca. 1800-1837 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Anne Mee (b. Foldsone, ca. 1770-1851) was a British miniature painter active in the early nineteenth century. She likely trained with her father, John Foldsone, before taking lessons with George Romney. Her portrait practice supported the family financially after the passing of Mee’s father in 1784. In 1788, the poet William Hayley wrote of Mee:

‘I am sitting for him [George Romney] to a young female genius in miniature, who, at the age of seventeen, will, I trust, under his patronage, most comfortably raise, and support by her wonderful talent, a drooping family.’

Mee was celebrated during her lifetime and gained the patronage of Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales. Her husband, Joseph Mee, was supportive of her practice, though the diarist Farrington remarked that he ‘consented to let her paint ladies only who were never to be attended by gentlemen.’ Though reserved, he must have understood the financial incentives in letting Mee continue to paint: her practice was exceptionally lucrative, surpassing prices charged by male contemporaries like Richard Cosway.

Mee exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution between 1804 and 1837.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePortrait of a young man, thought to be one of the artist's sons (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on ivory
Brief description
Portrait Miniature, A Young Man, Possibly the Artist's Son, by Anne Mee, watercolour on ivory, ca. 1800-1837
Physical description
Portrait miniature on ivory of a young man in a rectangular metal frame.
Dimensions
  • Height: 11.1cm
  • Width: 7.9cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1962. London: HMSO, 1964.
Style
Credit line
Given by Mrs Arthur R. Fuller
Object history
Anne Mee may have painted this miniature, alongside P.13-1962 and P.15-1962, of her husband and two sons.
Historical context
Portrait miniatures were frequently exchanged between loved ones and family in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain as tokens of affection and remembrance.
Subject depicted
Summary
Anne Mee (b. Foldsone, ca. 1770-1851) was a British miniature painter active in the early nineteenth century. She likely trained with her father, John Foldsone, before taking lessons with George Romney. Her portrait practice supported the family financially after the passing of Mee’s father in 1784. In 1788, the poet William Hayley wrote of Mee:

‘I am sitting for him [George Romney] to a young female genius in miniature, who, at the age of seventeen, will, I trust, under his patronage, most comfortably raise, and support by her wonderful talent, a drooping family.’

Mee was celebrated during her lifetime and gained the patronage of Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales. Her husband, Joseph Mee, was supportive of her practice, though the diarist Farrington remarked that he ‘consented to let her paint ladies only who were never to be attended by gentlemen.’ Though reserved, he must have understood the financial incentives in letting Mee continue to paint: her practice was exceptionally lucrative, surpassing prices charged by male contemporaries like Richard Cosway.

Mee exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution between 1804 and 1837.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1962. London: HMSO, 1964.
  • Anne Mee, The gallery of beauties in the court of his most excellent majesty George the Third, London, 1812.
  • Paris A. Spies-Gans, A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760-1830, New Haven and London: Yale University Press and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2022, p. 246.
Collection
Accession number
P.14-1962

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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