Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon

Portrait painting required the artist to present the sitter as he or she wanted to be seen. Here, Francis Hastings is presented as a sophisticated world traveler. As a member of an aristocratic family, he was expected to travel through Europe on what was known as the Grand Tour to improve his knowledge of classical history and art. In this portrait, Reynolds has painted his sitter clothed in an outlandishly opulent costume, set off by an ultraformal bag wig with angled pigeon-wing curls, three-cornered hat with ostrich trimming, and exquisite French needle lace cuffs and stock. The appearance of stilted luxury is unusual in 18th-century British portraiture, which favored greater informality. Fur-lined suits were an Italian fashion that Englishmen adopted on the Grand Tour but seldom wore after returning home. In this case, it is highly likely that it was the sitter, rather than the artist, who specified what he would wear.