File:Jean Petitot - Jane Needham (1646-1692).jpg

English: Portrait of Jane Myddelton (1646-1692).
"This is an early work by Jean Petitot, the pioneer of the art of enamel painting in miniature and the most distinguished enamellist of the seventeenth century. Petitot's long career spanned seven decades and took him from his birthplace in Geneva to the courts of Charles I in London and Louis XIV in Paris. His best work is generally acknowledged to date from his period working for Charles I from 1637 until the mid-1640s when he refined the technique of painting portraits in enamel under the tutelage of Sir Anthony Van Dyck and with the assistance of the King's physician, Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne. This enamel, as another in the Royal Collection (421952), appears to be dependant on a miniature by Samuel Cooper and is one of a group of miniatures which suggest some sort of association between the enamellist and the young Cooper. The traditional identification of the sitter as Jane Needham (1645-92), who married, in 1660, Charles Middleton or Ruabon, is borne out by comparison with Lely's portrait of the same sitter from the series known as the Windsor Beauties (401211)."