Aristocrats (61 page)

Practically dressed and on a ‘trudge’ through the Castletown grounds with a gamekeeper in 1768.

A mature woman in the 1770s.

With a saddled horse. Louisa worried about her husband’s dare-devil hunting exploits and seldom rode herself, so this picture is a tribute to the spirit of the place, Healy’s specialist skills and Tom’s equine obsessions.

Sarah in her teens, dressed as ‘the mourning bride’ for a session of amateur dramatics. Although Emily said she was ‘merely a pretty, lively looking girl and that is all’, Henry Fox thought she was ‘different from and prettier than any other girl I ever saw’.

Ramsay’s official portrait of George III in Coronation robes of 1762: a far cry from the ‘boiling youth’ who had fallen in love with Sarah a year before.

Palemon and Lavinia:
a print that did the rounds of court, purportedly showing the King wooing an uncharacteristically demure Sarah in the grounds of Holland House.

Sir Charles Bunbury, painted by Reynolds for the Holland House gallery shortly after his marriage to Sarah in 1762. When his nephew was offered this picture, he refused it, saying that he did not want to be reminded of his uncle.

Emily and her ‘dear Jemmy’, painted by Arthur Devis in 1755 with an imaginary Carton behind them.

Emily, aged 22 by Joshua Reynolds, 1753.

Kildare in the companion portrait of the same year.

Sarah, voluptuously painted by Francis Cotes when she came to London at the age of 15.

The south front of Carton House.

Sublime and ridiculous:
Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces
, by Reynolds, 1764–5.