How you can use this image
This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND).
You can reproduce this image for non-commercial purposes and you are not able to change or modify it in any way.
Wherever you reproduce the image you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s) and the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other rights holders.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
DownloadNotes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
These are the aristocratic Montgomery sisters – Barbara, Elizabeth and Anne. Their father was the Irish aristocrat Sir William Montgomery and they were known as the 'Irish Graces'. They are shown gathering flowers to decorate a statue of Hymen, the Roman god of marriage. Reynolds posed them in what he described as ‘a variety of graceful historical attitudes’. These were taken from the work of admired old master painters, such as the seventeenth-century French artist Nicolas Poussin. Reynolds intended this to ennoble his figures, but it also laid him open to charges of plagiarism.
Title
Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen
Date
1773
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 233.7 x W 290.8 cm
Accession number
N00079
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by the Earl of Blessington 1837
Work type
Painting
Tate Britain
Millbank, London, Greater London SW1P 4RG England
-
William Augustus (1721–1765), Duke of Cumberland, KG Huntingdon Town Hall -
The Earl and Countess of Mexborough with Their Son, Lord Pollington (1719–1778) Doddington Hall -
Portrait of a Gentleman English Heritage, Marble Hill House -
Sir Walter Blackett (1707–1777), Bt, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne (1734–1777) The Royal Victoria Infirmary -
Mrs John Clevland of Tapley Burton Art Gallery and Museum -
Self Portrait English Heritage, Kenwood -
Mrs Tollemache as Miranda English Heritage, Kenwood - 617 more