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Description: | Rectangular miniature in watercolour on ivory in a carved wooden picture frame, with a gilded slip. The carved part has several pieces missing. An inscription on the reverse reads: 'Elizabeth Diana Larkan, / Daughter of John Larkan Esq, / Commander R.N. Niece of Captn / Robert Larkan Esq of Greenwich Hospital'.
The sitter is a young woman shown seated, half-length, on an upright dining chair with an inlaid wooden back. She faces front, but with her head turned half to her left and her right arm crooked over the half-visible chairback. She wears a low-cut plain gown, probably originally red and possibly with a white lawn outer layer,and with a belted waist and short sleeves. There is a pink coral bead necklace round her neck and her long hair is braided and coiled on top of her head, with short curls at the side. The overall tone is russet, including the background, probably the result of over-exposure to light, but her eyes appear to have been green and her hair probably red or auburn. The style of dress indicates a date of about 1825.
The sitter, Elizabeth Diana Larkan, born in 1790 in Athlone, Ireland, was the second child and second daughter (of three) of Commander John Larkan and his wife Elizabeth Knott (see MNT0007). She never married and latterly appears to have lived in Greenwich with her (probably unmarried) uncle Captain Robert Larkan, who was appointed one of the Captains of Greenwich Hospital in 1818. She died in Maze Hill, Greenwich, on 25 January 1852.
This miniature was presented in 1955 with MNT0007, by Miss A. M. Fleming of Vancouver, BC, Canada. Given her name, Miss Fleming may have been a descendant of Elizabeth's elder sister Abigail (1787-1825), who married an Archibald Fleming. Robert Larkan was born on 7 December 1756 and entered the Navy under the patronage of his uncle, Captain Robert Ardesoif, who then found him a place under Captain George Vandeput. He became a lieutenant in 1780 and was first lieutenant to Lord Hugh Seymour in the 'Leviathan' at the Battle of 1 June 1794, after which both he and John (first of the 'Defence' there) were among those rewarded by promotion to commander on 6 July. Robert was promoted captain in 1796 but only in small ships, and was left on half-pay from the Pece of Amiens in 1802 until appointed to Greenwich Hospital in 1818. He died on 10 June 1841, aged 84, and was buried in the officers' plot of the Hospital burial ground. His stone there also commemorates his niece, but that she was buried in the parish graveyard. It mentions no wife (who would have been eligible for burial with him).
Presented with MNT0007
caption: Elizabeth Diana Larkin - front | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Elizabeth Diana Larkan miniatures (medals) Elizabeth Diana | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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