Lydia Gwennap: A Cornish masterpiece uncovered...

An enigmatic gaze from a young girl in a neglected portrait, obscured by a veil of yellowed varnish, reached out to a dealer in Cornish art when it was spotted in a Midlands saleroom.

The artist was John Opie, the 18th century self-taught "Cornish Wonder", who was famously described by Sir Joshua Reynolds as being "like Caravaggio and Velazquez in one".

This monograph describes the exciting discovery and careful restoration of a portrait which can now rightfully claim it's place as a Cornish masterpiece.

It reaches into the murky depths of history to shed light on the remarkable life of the sitter, Lydia Gwennap, and takes us from her humble roots in Cornwall to the fashionable environs of London during an age of important social and cultural reform.

Lydia was a true daughter of Falmouth, and finally, some 240 years after her birth, her story can be told...