Three-quarter length portrait, facing, in a sumptuous dress, large divided ruff, shoulder jewels (one with a naked man holding a crown and a small white dog), magnificent jewellery at her breast, ornate fan in her right hand. Blue eyes, light brown hair dressed with jewels, mottled ochre background; gilt signature GP Harding Fecit lower left.
Framed in the original gilded composition surround.
Harding was a Regency copyist mainly known for his miniature watercolour replicas of earlier portraits. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists between 1802 and 1840. Working mainly in London and in country houses where he made watercolour copies of oil portraits, many painted on a small scale.
Interestingly, Henry Bone, R.A. painted a version of this painting on enamel, now in the National Trust Collection at Kingston Lacey. Their description suggests the original painting is at Woburn Abbey.
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1250555
