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Lady Cockburn and her Children

Artist/Maker (British, 1750–1814)
after (English, 1723–1792)
Date1792
MediumStipple engraving
DimensionsImage: 17 × 13 3/8 in. (43.2 × 34 cm)
Plate: 20 × 15 5/16 in. (50.8 × 38.9 cm)
Sheet: 23 1/2 × 16 7/8 in. (59.7 × 42.9 cm)
Credit LineAnnie A. Wager Bequest
Object number1961.49
Status
Not on view
More Information
Charles Wilkin's stipple engraving beautifully captures Joshua Reynolds's "grand manner" style, which elevates both his artistry and his sitter through allegory and quotations after the Old Masters. Adapting his composition from Anthony Van Dyck's painting Charity (1627-28) implies Lady Cockburn's virtue, while the boy on the left's pose is borrowed from Diego Velázquez's Toilet of Venus (1647-51). The intimate grouping and infant's reclining position suggest newly indulgent attitudes toward children and the recent trend for upper-class mothers to breastfeed. When the 1773 painting was later engraved it was re-titled Cornelia and Her Children, linking Lady Cockburn with the Roman widow regarded as the perfect example of virtuous motherhood.
Exhibition History
Eighteenth-Century English Prints
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (June 19, 1987 - July 19, 1987 )
Out of Albion: British Art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 26, 2008 - December 23, 2008 )
Transformation: Images of Childhood and Adolescence
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 1, 2015 - December 23, 2015 )
Collections
  • European