SAMUEL COTES

The information about the life of Julia Cox of the Shergold family is limited to her connection to this portrait miniature. She has been painted in a typical Cotes fashion; he often used the bright pastel tones, including the green and pink shades used in Julia’s dress here. He also used ermine as a decoration on many occasions, indicating that the mantle Julia wears may have been a prop that the artist kept within his studio. Another portrait of Julia Cox by Cotes has been recorded in a private collection, this one from 1769, and depicting the sitter with a slightly different outfit. There is no further confirmation as to where the identification of the sitter in this second miniature comes from, though the women in both portraits share similar facial features. 

Samuel Cotes was the younger brother of portraitist Francis Cotes (1726-1770), and was a member of both the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy. Some of the oeuvre of Cotes has been slightly confused in the past, given that he signed ‘SC’, the same as contemporary Sarah Cootes (fl. 1777-1784) and Samuel Collins (c.1735-1768). However, the distinct style on the signature of this miniature, and of the portrait itself, allows a confident attribution to Cotes.