Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Cole - two portriaits by Nathaniel Hone, 1776.

Mrs. Benjamin Cole, circa 1776.

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Benjamin Cole, 1776.

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Nathaniel Hone (24 April 1718, Dublin – 14 August 1784, London), Irish-born portrait and miniature painter, and one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. The son of a Dublin-based Dutch merchant, he moved to England as a young man. He married Molly Earle - daughter of the Duke of Argyll - in 1742 and eventually settled in London, having already acquired a reputation as a portrait painter. In 1750 he went to study in Italy, remaining there for two years. While his paintings were popular, his reputation was particularly enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures and enamels.

Also a notable Irish painter, his great-grand-nephew shared the same name and was known as Nathaniel Hone the Younger (1831–1917).