Over the course of his career, Ramsay produced hundreds of studies of hands, typically drawn in red chalk and at roughly half actual size. Most of these drawings are preparatory studies for the sitters’ hands in his portraits. In the finished portrait of Lady Charlotte Burgoyne (Private Collection), she is shown lightly resting her left elbow against a vase of flowers, with a book in her hands. Here Ramsay experiments with the complex position of her hands holding the loosely bound volume, her fingers marking her place among the pages. Such an informal pose helped to create the ‘natural’ impression for which Ramsay’s portraits were renowned.