About the
exhibition

This display of portraits, on loan from the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, presented a unique opportunity to see highlights from their collection, including works by Thomas Barker, Arthur Devis, Angelica Kauffman, Allan Ramsay, Henry Raeburn, George Stubbs and Richard Cosway.

While wealthy patrons continued to have their portraits painted as symbols of class and status, the Georgian era saw portraiture enter a golden age of realism and glamour.

With the popularity of landscape architects such as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, nature also found its way into portraiture. Parkland and gardens, previously only seen through the windows of the great estates, became the setting for new conversation pieces – whether fanciful depictions of Arcadia or the grand backdrops to the patron’s country manor.