CLARA MARIA WHEATLEY (BRITISH, d.1838)
A classical scene
signed & dated 'C.L. Wheatley, 1786' (lower right)
brush & sepia wash on laid paper
22 x 28.6 cm. (8 5/8 x 11 1/4 in.)
(unframed)

Clara Maria Wheatley (née Leigh) was the second wife of Francis Wheatley R.A., whom she married around the time that the present work dates from. She would later marry the actor Alexander Pope, exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1796, taught
drawing and miniature painting, and became known for her still lives. This is likely a very early work, possibly drawn under the instruction of Francis, from whom she learned at first. (Cf. Iolo Williams, Early English Watercolours, Bath (1970), p.186).