Portrait of Lady William Montagu - Whittaker & Co.

A 1832 stipple engraving of Lady William Montagu, published by Whittaker & Co. for La Belle Assemblée.

This stipple engraving depicts Emily Magdalen Montagu, Lady William Montagu, as she appeared in the early nineteenth century. The work was published by Whittaker & Co. in February 1832 as part of their series, The Female Nobility, featured in the periodical La Belle Assemblée. The print is based on an original miniature painting by the artist Ross and was executed by the engraver Dean.

The portrait captures the subject in a seated position, rendered with the soft tonal transitions characteristic of the stipple technique. Her hair is styled in the elaborate fashion of the 1830s, with volume at the crown and loose curls framing the face. She wears a gown with puffed sleeves, a common silhouette for the period, which adds a sense of volume to the composition. The background remains simple and dark, ensuring the focus stays on the subject.

La Belle Assemblée was a popular British magazine that provided readers with fashion plates and biographical sketches of prominent women. These engravings functioned as both a record of contemporary style and a means of circulating the likenesses of the aristocracy to a wider public. The inclusion of the publication details, the engraver's name, and the original artist's credit at the base of the print provides a clear provenance for the work. This piece offers a view into the visual culture of Regency and early Victorian Britain, where the dissemination of portraiture through print media became a standard practice for documenting social status and fashion. The technical execution demonstrates the precision required in nineteenth-century commercial engraving, where the stipple method allowed for subtle gradations of light and shadow, mimicking the appearance of a painted miniature on paper.