Reynolds carefully chose to depict his sitters using bows, although a shotgun was a more popular weapon at the time. The archers form a superb compositional motif that draws on the kind of classical allusions that formed part of Reynolds's mature portrait repertoire. It is also significant that the portrait was begun in 1769, the year when Reynolds became the 1st president of the new Royal Academy. This work was acquired with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation.

Provenance

Estate of Colonel John Dyke Acland; by descent to Elizabeth Kitty Acland and Henry George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon; by descent to George, 5th Earl of Carnarvon; Christie's, 1925; Mrs Mervyn Herbert; by descent to the Trustees of the Tetton Heir