This exciting recent discovery by antiquarian Christopher Bryant is a miniature portrait of Banastre Tarleton by Richard Cosway. Previously, Cosway's portrait(s?) was (were?) remembered only via mass-market engravings which were issued in the 18th and 19th century.

The earlier of the two versions of the print is dated August 1, 1782, which indicates that Cosway painted Tarleton sometime early in 1782 (allowing time for it to be engraved and published by the beginning of August.) Cosway painted at least two miniatures of Mary Robinson during the same period, and as Chris comments, "It is entirely possible that the miniatures of Tarleton and Perdita were commissioned for exchange between the two lovers. The Prince of Wales may well have provided Tarleton's introduction to Cosway, and the connections to the Prince and to Perdita could both have provided occasion for Cosway to produce portraits of Tarleton."

There are always differences between the original image and the image captured by an engraver. (For example, compare the Reynolds portrait with the engraving done from it by John Raphael Smith.) In this particular case, the differences are particularly noticable. On this, Chris comments:

"You may have noted the variations between the August 1782 Townley engraving of Tarleton after Richard Cosway and my original Cosway of Tarleton. The existence of two versions is best understood in light of Cosway's extravagant and temperamental personality, which precluded his producing anything so pedantic as a direct copy of an existing miniature that he had already painted. He would almost certainly have painted an entirely new portrait, which would explain the minor variations seen in my version. ... This suggestion / explanation was provided by Camilla Seymour, the miniatures expert at Bonhams, after she examined both my miniature and the engraving."

The miniature has no continuous provenance, so of course there remains some element of doubt. It has been identified by art experts as the work of Cosway, and both its resemblance to the prints and its details (uniform and coloring) make it comfortably certain that it is the missing Tarleton portrait, or at least a missing portrait. If Chris is right, there may still be another one to find!

The miniature is roughly 2 inches high, and set into a beautiful pendant which one can easily believe once belonged to Mary Robinson.

[Images and background information kindly provided by Chris Bryant. ]