Portrait of Jane Finch
Octavius Oakley RWS, 1800-1867
Watercolor and body color, signed
Signed and dated 1849
17 x 12 1/2 inches
Heneage Finch, sixth Earl of Aylesford, married jane Knightley in 1846. It is likely that these were commissioned to celebratethe birth of their first son, born in the year the paired
“Heneage Finch, sixth Earl of Aylesford, married jane Knightley in 1846. It is likely that these were commissioned to celebratethe birth of their first son, born in the year these were painted (he turned out wild — a friend of the Prince of Wales, the seventh Early died unexpectedly in 1885 in West Texas following a two-week party. The identities of the sitters were confirmed by the 11th Early of Aylesford in 1994. Oakley's fellow OWS, Oliver Finch, perhaps a cousin of the sitter, may have secured him the commission.” — The Maas Gallery.