Charles Stanhope, third Earl of Harrington and Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas
Date:
1782
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
93 x 56 inches (236.2 x 142.2 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.69
Gallery Label:
Made after the Earl of Harrington returned to England from Jamaica, this portrait celebrates his military exploits during the final years of Britain’s war with America and France. The painting is part fantasy, part reality. Reynolds depicts Stanhope as a heroic knight clad in armor, which he certainly never wore. However, Marcus Thomas, the young Jamaican man who accompanies him, is very real proof of Britain’s determination to retain its colonial possessions, especially its lucrative sugar plantations. Likely born into chattel slavery, Thomas served in Harrington’s household and sat for Reynolds in June 1782. Thomas later married and joined the Westminster militia as a drummer, spending years in military encampments along the English coastline with his wife and children, while Britain awaited invasion from France. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
