Daughter of the Astronomer Royal, half-length, in a white dress and blue sash, with a dog and Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory forming the background. Margaret Maskelyne was born in Greenwich on 27 June 1785, the only child of the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, the 5th Astronomer Royal, and Sophia Rose. She lived at the Observatory until her father's death in 1811, developed a keen interest in astronomy, and assisted him with his observations. In 1819 she married Anthony Story (1791-1879), who formally changed the family name to Story-Maskelyne in 1845 when they inherited the Maskelyne lands in Dorset and Wiltshire. Margaret died at the family estate in Wiltshire in 1858 and this portrait is one of many items that later passed into the Arnold-Foster family through the marriage of her granddaughter, Mary, to Hugh Arnold-Foster in 1885. The view of the Observatory and the deer grouping in the background are similar to and may be based on a drawing by Owen (ZBA5103), which was also previously a family item.