Portrait of Mrs Jane Mary Stocks (née McEchran, d.1925) seated three-quarter length, in a black dress holding a peacock feather fan, resting her left arm on a stone balustrade, a sunset landscape beyondsigned with monogram (centre right) and dated ‘1879’ (centre left)oil on canvas 123 x 98.5cmProvenance:By descent from the sitter at Wood Hall, Hilgay, NorfolkThe sitter married Michael Stocks (1825-1895) in 1863 who was to acquire Wood Hall in 1878.Framed 162 x 136cmThe painting is executed in oil on a linen canvas support. The canvas is unlined and has an artists’ suppliers stamp fir Charles Roberson on the reverse. The back of the canvas has a priming layer. The canvas tension is slightly slack and there are minor undulations at the corners. The paint layer is generally in a stable condition. The thin grey paint in the sky has suffered from small areas of loss in line with the tops of the canvas weave. Under ultraviolet examination there are areas which appear dark in the skirts of the dress. In normal light these areas are slightly more matte than the surrounding areas, possibly reworking by the artist. Drying cracks have formed in some areas, which would have formed as the paint layers dried. The varnish is semi-glossy and even. There is a layer of surface dirt present including fly spots which are noticeable in the sitter’s face.