Portrait of Anne Law (née Towry), 1st Lady Ellenborough

John Linnell was born and lived much of his young adulthood in Bloomsbury, where his father, James, made picture

frames and restored paintings. As a boy the artist trained briefly with Benjamin West (1738-1820) and John Varley (1778-1842) before becoming a student at the Royal Academy from 1805 to 1812. Though primarily known for his landscapes, Linnell was also a prolific portraitist and executed miniatures during the first two decades of his career, learning the medium from his neighbor James Holmes (1770-1860). According to an early biographer, Linnell began painting miniatures around 1818 with a portrait of his wife. By 1823 he had executed a number of miniature commissions from aristocrat...