Crosse met Sarah Cobley again in 1807, when she decided to visit her brother after she learned her illness was fatal.

He then moved to London and, like Richard Cosway and John Smart, he studied at the new drawing school of William Shipley, the founder of the Society of Arts.

Basil Long in his book "British Miniaturists" (1929) regarded Crosse as a very accurate draughtsman who painted without hesitation or retouching and who will one day receive recognition for his sound, if modest, work.

Rather than attempt to paint on large surfaces, many portrait miniaturists from this period used ivories of only 11⁄2 to 2 inches in height.

Crosse's miniatures often seem to be dominated by a shade of greenish-blue, maybe influenced by the early work of Joshua Reynolds.

The fashion of the time was for women to increasingly wear their hair high on their head, and often it was powdered.

It is interesting to see how Crosse manages to fit a head and shoulders portrait of a lady with stacked hair on to such a small piece of ivory.

Crosse, as a member of the landed gentry, possessed a private income; he also earned quite a considerable sum from his portraiture.