Gustavus Hamilton was an Irish miniature painter.
Hamilton and James Reily were painting miniature portraits throughout the 1750s and 1760s. They form the second generation of miniaturists who painted in watercolour on ivory, on a relatively small scale, working in the ‘modest’ manner established by Nathaniel Hone (qv) in the 1740s and 1750s.
Hamilton’s miniatures are small in size and were intended to be worn in lockets and bracelets. His miniature portraits vary in quality, and the pose of his sitters is often rather stiff.
