William Essex trained as an enamel painter in the workshop of Charles Muss (1779 – 1824), Enamel Painter to William IV. Essex first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818 and throughout the 1820s and early 1830s built up a successful practice, working chiefly in enamel. William Essex must have had his first introduction to court circles through Charles Muss. He may initially have worked in collaboration with his teacher, but by 1827 was earning his own commissions from George IV. In 1834 Essex painted an enamel miniature of Charlotte, Duchess of Northumberland, governess to Queen Victoria, after Sir Thomas Lawrence; although he was already well established in royal circles, his patronage by the Duchess of Northumberland may have been an additional factor that contributed to his appointment as Enamel Painter to Queen Victoria in 1837 and Enamel Painter to Prince Albert in 1841. Queen Victoria employed Essex to make numerous enamel copies of portraits of her after Franz Xaver Winterhalter, which were set into bracelets and distributed as gifts. He also made numerous copies of portraits of her relatives and contemporaries. Most of these were commissioned within the same year as the original on which they were based, and were often given by Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. He also made historical copies of early miniatures and portraits at Windsor. Despite Essex's ostensible success, however, he fell into poverty in his later years and was forced to request that the Queen supplement his artist's annuity of £40 with a pension.



Essex's enamel is copied from the half-length figure of the Duke of Suffolk taken from the double portrait by an anonymous artist showing him with, probably, his second wife, Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk, at Woburn Abbey. This portrait was formerly in the collection of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, and was engraved when in that collection by E. & S. Harding and published on 27 November 1792.



Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, only surviving son of Sir William Brandon, married, in 1515, Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII and widow of Louis XII of France.



Signed, dated and inscribed on the counter-enamel: Chas Brandon / Duke of Suffolk / 2d. Husband of Mary daur. of / Henry VII & widow of Louis XII / King of France. / Painted by W. Essex. / Enamel painter to Her / Majesty & H.R.H. Prince Albert / A.D. 1844.



Provenance Commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1844