Painting, Miniature Portrait of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 or 1732-1809)
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Images of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, are rare. A full-length oil portrait painted in 1765 by Sir Joshua Reynolds (and now owned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) remains the best known likeness of the last royal governor of the colony of Virginia.
CWF's miniature and one other (virtually identical to it and also owned by CWF, accession number 2003-61) are the only other depictions of the 4th Earl recorded to date. Probably one of CWF's miniatures was copied from the other. The more painstaking craftsmanship of 2003-58 suggests that it was the original. Yet the lengthier, more detailed inscription on the reverse of 2003-61 argues for its having been the predecessor. (That inscription indicates that that miniature was created in February 1809--the very month that Dunmore died near Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet, Kent, England).
