THOMAS FORSTER (BRITISH 1677-1712) Portrait miniature of a gentleman called Mr. Hill, Mrs. Parbery's father, wearing robe with striped lining, stock and tied cravat with full bottomed curling wig Signed on the obverse T. Fo and indistinctly dated 17 ? Plumbago on vellum Original turned wood frame Oval, 62 mm (2 2/4 in) high Exhibited: Comerford Collection at the Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin, 2009 Literature: The Comerford Collection: Portrait Miniatures, (privately published, Dublin, 2009) pp 7, 23 (#55), 67 (sitter #17) Plumbago drawings are graphite drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries. There was a group of artists whose work in plumbago is remarkable for their portraits drawn with finely pointed pieces of graphite and on vellum. Initially these works were often prepared as the basis of an engraving. As time went by they would be produced as works in their own right. Forster was one of the major draftsmen in this form of portraiture, both on vellum and on paper.