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Cropley Ashley-Cooper (Later 6th Earl of Shaftesbury) with His Sister Mary Anne Ashley-Cooper, Later Lady Sturt of Crichel
Daniel Gardner (British, c. 1750–1805)
c. 1776
- Medium
- pastel with black and red chalk and graphite
- Classification
- Drawing
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 50.7 x 40.2 cm (19 15/16 x 15 13/16 in.)
- Culture
- England, 18th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Drawings
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Daniel Gardner built a lucrative career that was based on fashionable portraiture, especially small-scale works in pastel, often in oval formats with landscape backgrounds. Executed in this format, this portrait is one of many by the artist that depicted children, his primary subjects. Here, the young Cropley Ashley-Cooper, later the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury, gazes fondly at his older sister, Mary Anne, who holds his hand and encircles his shoulders in close affection. Gardner took advantage of the special optical properties of pastel, whose minute, irregular particles reflect light diffusely, allowing an unparalleled velvety brilliance.
