Mrs Woodhull

This is Catherine Milcah Ingram, the daughter of a Warwickshire clergyman. In 1761 she had married Michael Woodhull, a wealthy and distinguished translator of Euripides, collector of books and prints, and a minor poet. The painting is said to have been begun as a half-length portrait of just head and shoulders, but Mrs Woodhull liked it so much that she asked Zoffany to enlarge it to a full-length picture. Joins in the canvas and some overpainting seem to confirm this. The painting was probably commissioned to hang in the library at Thenford, the Woodhull family seat in Northamptonshire.