A wonderful and rare example of a Victorian miniature portrait featuring three sisters and their lifelike doll painted around 1840. On the back is written the names of all sisters, with each birth and death date. These few details enable us to discover who these young girls were and the women they became.

Their father was a barrister and evidently a moderately wealthy man as the family had a small number of servants and lived in the newly-fashionable county of Middlesex.

The eldest sister, Julia, never married but appears to have been very self-sufficient, spending her life visiting friends and family or holidaying with her sister, Beatrice. The lack of a male sibling will likely have helped provide the sisters with more financial independence.

The youngest sister, Beatrice, was married at the end of 1866 to a barrister. Sadly, married life was not to last long for her as her husband died the following February in France. Very possibly during their honeymoon! Beatrice doesn’t appear to have married again, but she mysteriously left a substantial amount of money to a gentleman (also a barrister) without a recognisable family name.

The middle sister, Louisa, also married a barrister and had a number of children. They lived in a large townhouse on Hanover Square, a very wealthy address in Mayfair, Westminster.

The mahogany frame has a little wear and signs of aging. The original top loop is missing but could be replaced if desired. The portrait itself has some signs of aging, a little crazing of the paint and some small spots on the paper but nothing detrimental.

Frame measures 17.2cm x 14.5cm.

Aperture measures 12cm x 9.5cm.