Mrs Wells

Lever purchased this painting as being by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was later ascribed to Cotes and has more recently been attributed to Mortimer. The work is close in style to Mortimer's 'Portrait of a Lady' (called 'Lady Broughton') of about 1776 (Museé du Louvre, Paris) and his 'Mary Lushington' of 1777 (Towner Art Gallery). It is possibly one of the three-quarter portraits of ladies exhibited by Mortimer at the Society of Artists in 1777. An inscription on the reverse (not contemporary with the painting) identifies the sitter as Mrs Wells, the first wife of Dr Wells. Nothing further is known of her.