17th Century English Portrait Miniature, attributed to Matthew Snelling.  A young woman in pearls, traditionally identified as Mary Browne, Lady Compton England, 17th century Watercolour on vellum. She has all the hallmarks of fashionable seventeenth-century portraiture: softly dressed ringlets, pearls, pale skin and an extraordinary expanse of luminous white décolletage set dramatically against her black dress. She looks straight out at us — composed, confident and remarkably self-possessed. Snelling was an intriguing character from an upper class family, remembered not only for his skill as a miniaturist but for a certain flirtatiousness with his female sitters. There is certainly an intimacy here: this doesn't feel like a remote society portrait, but an encounter with a particular woman. The traditional identification adds another layer. As Mary Browne, wife of Sir Henry Compton, hers was a world in which Catholic faith could carry very real consequences. Against the religious tensions of seventeenth-century England, this serene, fashionable young woman may have lived with dangers later in her life entirely invisible in her portrait. More than three centuries later, it is that extraordinary directness that remains . A beautiful and highly evocative survival from seventeenth-century England, and a portrait of exceptional presence. Set in a sterling silver frame. Height of frame 7cms Width 5.5cmsSet in a sterling silver frame. Height of frame 7cms Width 5.5cms Please see my film of the portrait