A young lady with her spaniel,
English School, circa 1770.

  This portrait is after Sir Joshua Reynolds' portrait of Lady Caroline Russell (later the Duchess of Marlborough) and her Blenheim spaniel.  Though the sitter is different, the composition is identical.  The original portrait was engraved, circa 1760, by James McArdell.  That print was borrowed "wholesale" by John Singleton Copley for his portrait of Mrs. Jerathmael Bowers, circa 1763, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Copley painted Mrs. Bowers with a burgundy mantle, possibly indicating that he was working from a black and white print.  This miniature bears a slate blue mantle, as in the Reynolds portrait, which signifies that the artist was familiar with the original portrait.  
 
Set in a period wood and pressed brass oval frame.
 
2 13/16 inches (7.1 cm) high.
 
See: Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, p. 422 for a discussion of the Reynolds portrait, illustrated page 263, no. 475.
         Prown, John Singleton Copley in America, p. 60 for a discussion of Copley's copy, illustrated no. 219.