La Belle Vie

An armour design for Henry Herbert in the Almain Armourer's Album, 1557-87

Portrait of Olive Craster, Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1762, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

portrait of a young woman wearing a choker of large pearls, a blue dress with bows on the bodice and white lace netting and ribbons over the shoulders, and white lace and tiny pink and yellow flowers in her hair, with a brown squirrel wearing a collar with a silver chain attached, perched on her PR hand; painted oval around image, with grey ground Olive Craster, an heiress from a distinguished family, and husband George embarked on an expensive and extensive period of travel across France and Italy shortly after their marriage, throughout which Olive kept meticulous notes of her purchases, including clothes and other fashionable accessories. As a testament to female expression and experience in the eighteenth century, Dance’s portrait is a rare, almost singular survival. Mia’s collection is also weak in British 18th century portraiture, and this picture is a very welcome enhancement. Size: 28 ½ × 23 11/16 in. (72.39 × 60.17 cm) (sight) 35 ½ × 30 5/8 × 2 ½ in. (90.17 × 77.79 × 6.35 cm) (outer frame) Medium: Oil on canvas

1786 Johann Ernst Heinsius - Marie-Louise-Thérèse-Victoire of France (Madame Victoire)

1626-1627 Daniel Mytens - Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia

1760s Giuseppe Duprà or Nicola Duprà - Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Queen consort of Sardinia