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| George Romney Portrait of Mrs Mary Robinson ca. 1780-81 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| Thomas Gainsborough Portrait of Mrs Mary Robinson 1781 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| Thomas Gainsborough Portrait of Mrs Mary Robinson 1781 oil on canvas National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire |
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| Joshua Reynolds Portrait of Mrs Mary Robinson ca. 1783-84 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
Mary Robinson ("Perdita") – English actress and author, was born in Bristol on the 27th of November 1758, the daughter of a captain of a whaler named Darby. In 1774 she was married to Thomas Robinson, a clerk in London, where her remarkable beauty brought her many attentions; and when, after two years of fashionable life, her husband was arrested for debt, she shared his imprisonment. She had been a precocious child, encouraged to write verses, and while in King's Bench prison she completed the collection published in two volumes in 1775. On her release, thanks to Garrick, she secured an engagement at Drury Lane, making a successful first appearance as Juliet in 1776. On the 3rd of December 1779 she was Perdita in Garrick's version of The Winter's Tale, and her beauty so captivated George, Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), then in his eighteenth year, that he began a correspondence with her, signing himself "Florizel". She was about two years his mistress, but he then deserted her, even dishonouring his bond for £20,000, payable when he came of age, and left her to obtain a pension of £500 in exchange for it from Charles James Fox. Owing to the hostility of public opinion, she feared to return to the stage, but she published some more volumes of her writings. There are numerous charming portraits of "Perdita".
– Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
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| George Romney Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton, as Circe 1782 oil on canvas National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire |
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| George Romney Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton, as The Spinstress 1784-85 oil on canvas Kenwood House, London |
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| George Romney Portrait of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton ca. 1785 oil on canvas National Portrait Gallery, London |
Emma Hamilton – Daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith of Great Neston in Cheshire. The date of her birth cannot be fixed with certainty, but she was baptized at Great Neston on the 12th of May 1765, and it is not improbable that she was born in that year. Her baptismal name was Emily. As her father died soon after her birth, the mother, who was dependent on parish relief, had to remove to her native village, Hawarden in Flintshire. Emma's early life is very obscure. She was certainly illiterate, and it appears that she had a child in 1780, a fact which has led some of her biographers to place her birth before 1765. . . . In 1781 she was the mistress of a country gentleman, Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, who turned her out in December of that year. She was then pregnant, and in her distress applied to the Hon. Charles Greville, to whom she was already known. At this time she called herself Emma Hart. Greville, a gentleman of artistic tastes and well known in society, entertained her as his mistress, her mother, known as Mrs. Cadogan, acting as housekeeper and partly as servant. Under the protection of Greville, whose means were narrowed by debt, she acquired some education, and was taught to sing, dance and act with professional skill. In 1782 he introduced her to his friend Romney the portrait painter, who had been established for several years in London, and who admired her beauty with enthusiasm. The numerous famous portraits of her from his brush may have somewhat idealised her apparently robust and brilliantly coloured beauty, but her vivacity and powers of fascination cannot be doubted.
– Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
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| Joseph Highmore Portrait of Anne, Duchess of Chandos 1746 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
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| Allan Ramsay Portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Symonds 1740 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
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| Thomas Gainsborough Portrait of Louisa Barbarina Mansel, Lady Vernon ca. 1753 oil on canvas National Trust, Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire |
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| Thomas Hudson Portrait of Mrs Emma Harvey (in so-called "van Dyck dress") ca. 1750-60 oil on canvas Bristol Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joshua Reynolds Lady Henrietta Antonia Herbert, Countess of Powis 1777-78 oil on canvas National Trust, Powis Castle, Wales |
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| George Romney Portrait of Georgiana, Lady Greville (died in childbirth at age nineteen) 1771-72 oil on canvas Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| John Hoppner Mrs Jordan as Viola in Twelfth Night ca. 1785-92 oil on canvas Kenwood House, London |
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| Angelica Kauffmann Self Portrait ca. 1770-75 oil on canvas National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Anonymous British Artist Elizabeth Barry as Zara in The Mourning Bride by Congreve ca. 1705 oil on canvas National Trust, Smallhythe Place, Kent |