Art Institute of Chicago

Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces

Sir Joshua Reynolds (English, 1723–1792)

Date

1763–65

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

England

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Dressed in Classically inspired robes, Lady Sarah Bunbury pours a libation of oil as an offering to the Three Graces, positioned behind her. Her soon-to-be husband, Charles Bunbury, commissioned this marriage portrait, making her association with the Graces—symbols of fertility and attendants to the Roman goddess of love, Venus—all the more appropriate. The first president of the Royal Academy in London, Sir Joshua Reynolds urged his fellow artists to paint historical and edifying subjects based on the art of antiquity and the Renaissance. As a portrait painter, he developed a grand style that ennobled the genre by giving his sitters Classical attributes and poses.

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