John Hoskins, 
British c.1590-1665- 
Portrait of Dorothy Wheler; 
watercolour on vellum, oval,...

John Hoskins, 
British c.1590-1665- 

Portrait of Dorothy Wheler; 

watercolour on vellum, oval, signed with monogram ‘iH’ and dated ‘1648’ (lower right), encased in a gold frame with spring cresting and enamelled reverse, 6.5 x 5.1 cm. 

Note: 
This portrait by Hoskins commemorates the marriage of 22 year old Dorothy (1626-1687) to Sir Charles Wheler (circa 1620-1683), 2nd Baronet, a cavalry officer from Birdingbury, Warwickshire. 
Sir Charles Wheler actively supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War, conveying the gold and silver of Cambridge University, where he had been a student and where he would later serve as a Member of Parliament, to the King to help finance the war effort. His loyalty to the crown earned him a role as Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, serving King Charles II from 1660 to 1679. Dorothy and Charles had three sons and two daughters together. 

During the English Civil War, artists such as Hoskins, and his nephew and pupil Samuel Cooper (1609-1672), were high in demand. Prolonged periods of separation and mourning fueled an active market for miniatures, as these small portraits allowed bereaved family members to keep their loves ones close, often wearing them as pendants near their hearts. Hoskins’s son, John the Younger (circa 1617-1693), seems to have taken over as artist in the later 1640s, painting in a technique virtually identical to his father’s preserving the family reputation and legacy. 
In the present portrait, Hoskins has used fine and delicate brushstrokes to evoke the glint of Dorothy's precious diamond and pearl jewellery, which showcases her and her family's wealth and status. A similar portrait, which also highlights Hoskins's eye for his sitters' personality and costume, appeared at Sotheby's London, 05 dec 2019, lot 216 (£17,000). Another similar example, which, like the present portrait, is dated 1648, is in the collection of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no. NMB 1670). That example represents Lady Alice Lisle, whose husband was on the opposite side of the war to Sir Charles Wheler, and served on Oliver Cromwell's government.