Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney: The Archers

A full length double portrait showing the aristocrats Colonel John Dyke Acland on the right (1746-1778) and Dudley Alexander Sydney Cosby (1732-1774). 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.