Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke by Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds · 1761-01-01

This is Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke by Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted in 1761. It hangs in The Cleveland Museum of Art. In 1761, Reynolds charged 80 guineas for a full-length portrait, which was roughly a skilled London craftsman's entire annual wage. These two sisters came from serious money, and Reynolds was the most sought-after portraitist in Britain.

Look at the contrast between the two faces. Amabel, the elder, wears the serene, idealized mask of Reynolds' Grand Style. Mary Jemima, in the coral bodice on the right, gets to keep some real childhood in her expression. The distance between them, the fact that they neither touch nor meet eyes, leaves their actual bond unstated. Then look at Amabel's hands. Her raised left wrist carries a white dove, a clean emblem of innocence. Her right hand, hanging at her side, holds a clutch of dead game birds. The painting doesn't explain that contradiction, but it's there.

Reynolds painted this while helping to found the Royal Academy of Arts. He would be knighted eight years later. By the end of his career his studio had produced over 2,000 paintings, though a far smaller number are considered his genuine best. He believed portraiture should elevate its subjects above mere likeness into something timeless and dignified. That is exactly what he sold to the Yorke family.

A year's wages for one painting. The price of being remembered.

Details

The elder sister's face is pure Grand Style: idealized, composed, untroubled.

Her younger sister, in coral, is still allowed to be a child.

Reynolds was founding the Royal Academy the year he painted this. He became its first president.

Look at the white dove on her raised hand. Purity offered upward.

Now look at her other hand. Dead game birds, dangling at her side.

Transcript

Sir Joshua Reynolds charged 80 guineas for a full-length portrait in 1761. That was a year's wages for a skilled London craftsman. The elder sister's face is pure Grand Style: idealized, composed, untroubled. Her younger sister, in coral, is still allowed to be a child. Reynolds was founding the Royal Academy the year he painted this. He became its first president. Look at the white dove on her raised hand. Purity offered upward. Now look at her other hand. Dead game birds, dangling at her side.