The Artist: Anne Mee is first recorded in 1790, when she was working at Windsor Castle on portraits of Queen Charlotte and the princesses. She married Joseph Mee, an Armagh barrister, before 1804. Her style is closely based on that of Richard Cosway (see
62.49), and her earlier works are sometimes mistaken for his. In her later, more florid style she painted the series Gallery of Beauties of George III (Richard Walker,
The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge, 1992, nos. 857–74, ill.) in emulation of the earlier Windsor Beauties of Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680).
The Miniature: A paper kept inside the box is inscribed in ink:
Snuffbox with miniature by / Richard Cosway RA. of Anne / 1st Marchioness of Donegall - / Lady of the Bedchamber of Queen / Charlotte - eldest daughter of James /5th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. / This miniature, with others, was / given by the 3rd Marchioness of / Donegall, who died in 1829, / daughter of Dr Luke Godfrey D.D., / to her niece Miss Barbara Godfrey, / who gave them to her niece, / daughter of Major Godfrey and / wife of the Rev. G. Hughes, that / gentleman gave them to his wife’s / friend and companion Miss Vale, who / attended him up to the time of his / death–about 20 years ago. Miss / Vale gave them to her niece Miss / Julia Moreton from whom it was / acquired.The miniature was described on receipt at The Met as a work by Richard Cosway, in accordance with the manuscript history inside the box. The style was correctly recognized as that of Anne Mee by Richard Allen in 1977 and Hermione Waterfield in 1978. The costume dates about 1790, and thus the miniature cannot represent Anne, first wife of the first marquis of Donegall (1739–1799), who died in 1780. It may conceivably be of Barbara, née Godfrey (1768–1829), whom he married as his third wife in 1790.
[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]