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Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke
Also known as: The Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke
About the Artwork
Sisters Amabel (left) and Mary Jemima are shown playing on the grounds of their family’s country estate outside London. They wear loose, flowing garments invented specifically for the portrait rather than their usual outdoor dresses. Their father commissioned the painting to hang in the family’s city home in London’s St. James Square and it highlights their status as landowners. Joshua Reynolds painted this portrait after his return from Italy, where his studies inspired him to incorporate classical references. The famous ancient Roman Statue of a Girl with a Dove is echoed in Mary Jemima’s pose as she shields a dove from the family dog.
Provenance
c. 1761-1790: Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston, later Second Earl of Hardwicke [1720-1790], St. James Square, London, by descent to his daughter Amabel Yorke, later Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey 1790-1833: Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey [1751-1833], by descent to her great niece Anne Florence de Grey 1833-1880: Anne Florence de Grey, Baroness Lucas [died 1880], by descent to her son, Francis Thomas de Grey 1880-1905: Francis Thomas de Grey, Seventh Earl Cowper, Seventh Baron Lucas and Tenth Baron Dingwall [1834-1905], by descent to his nephew Auberon Thomas Herbert 1905-1916: Auberon Thomas Herbert, Eighth Baron Lucas and Eleventh Baron Dingwall [1876-1916], by descent to his sister Nan Ino Cooper 1916-1922: Nan Ino Cooper, Ninth Baroness Lucas and Twelfth Baroness Dingwall [1880-1958], consigned to sale at Christie's London 1922: (Christies’s, London, May 26, 1922, lot 78) (Agnew, London) (M. Knoedler & Co., New York) John L. Severance, Cleveland, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1942-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Anglo-Saxon Tradition. Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (October 1-15, 1946). The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957). Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963). Sir Joshua Reynolds. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (January 16-March 31, 1986). CMA @ Oberlin (second rotation). Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 3-June 5, 2006). British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723–1792)
- Date
- c. 1761
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 224.5 x 201.3 x 11.4 cm (88 3/8 x 79 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 196 x 170 cm (77 3/16 x 66 15/16 in.); Former: 223.5 x 198 x 9 cm (88 x 77 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of John L. Severance
- Accession no.
- 1942.645
More by Sir Joshua Reynolds in museum collections
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Sir Joshua Reynolds1748 · Painting
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009136
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