''Lady Cockburn and Her Three Eldest Sons'' (1775) is an oil on canvas

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

. Work began on the picture in 1773, and, in

Grand Manner Grand Manner refers to an idealized aesthetic style derived from classicism and the art of the High Renaissance. In the eighteenth century, British artists and connoisseurs used the term to describe paintings that incorporated visual metaphors in ...

fashion, Reynolds exploited two classical paintings: the attitude of the child on the left was modelled on Cupid in Velázquez's '' Toilet of Venus'' whilst the general composition was inspired by

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

's ''Charity''. The painting passed to Mister Cockburn's son George, and then to his daughter, Mrs Hamilton, the wife of Sir James Hamilton.Great Pictures as Seen and Described by Famous Writers
Esther Singleton, p285, 2007, accessed June 2009 It was bequeathed to London's

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in 1906.Lady Cockburn and her Three Eldest Sons
,

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

The painting is one of the few signed by Reynolds: Lady Cockburn's dress bears his signature and the year 1775. Lady Cockburn (Augusta Anne Ayscough, 1749–1837) was the daughter of Francis Ayscough and his wife Anne. She married Sir James Cockburn ( ,

Scottish English Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard ...

: ) the 8th Baronet and became Lady Cockburn of

Langton Langton may refer to: Places ;Canada *Langton, Ontario ;England *Church Langton, Leicestershire *East Langton, Leicestershire *Great Langton, North Yorkshire *Langton, Cumbria *Langton, County Durham *Langton, Lincolnshire *Langton, North Yorkshi ...

in Berwick in 1769.A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire
p268, 1832, accessed June 2009 The marriage was made as the result of a large marriage settlement of twenty thousand pounds which was arranged by her maternal uncle, Sir George Lyttlelton, her widowed mother and her brother George Edward Ayscough. The money was raised on her father's estate and included three houses in London and two farms. Lady Cockburn's first three sons are depicted in the portrait. The first son,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(b. 1771), became the 9th baronet and

Governor of Bermuda The Governor of Bermuda (fully the ''Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)'') is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this a ...

(1811–1819), and her second son,

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(b. 1772) became an Admiral of the Fleet and the 10th Baronet. Her third son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(b. 1773) became the

Dean of York Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

, and her fourth son, Alexander (b. 1776), became British

envoy extraordinary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

and minister

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

and the

Columbia District The Columbia District was a fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold ...

whilst her fifth son,

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

, (b. 1776) became a general after being involved in the early history of Canada as a colony and serving in diplomatic positions in the Bahamas and British Honduras.Cockburn, Sir Francis
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, accessed June 2009] Lady Cockburn's daughter, Augusta, was wed in 1807.

References

{{Joshua Reynolds 1770s in England 1770s paintings Collections of the National Gallery, London Birds in art Paintings of children Portraits by Joshua Reynolds