George Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper (1785): Art, History and Details

George Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper (1785) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hugh Douglas Hamilton (Irish, 1729–1808).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This pastel portrait of George Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper (1738–1789), was made in Florence, the earl’s permanent home, by the most celebrated Irish portraitist of the Grand Tour. Cowper prominently wears the sash and star of the Order of St. Hubertus, a knightly order of aristocratic hunters to which he was inducted in March 1785. It seems likely that the bucolic scene was commissioned to commemorate the honor. Cowper’s hunting dog receives a tender pat on the head and wears a bold shining metal collar inscribed with Cowper’s name.

Object facts

• Title: George Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper
• Date: 1785
• Creator attribution: Hugh Douglas Hamilton (Irish, 1729–1808)
• Culture: Ireland, 18th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pastel on paper stretched on linen
• Dimensions: Sheet: 94 x 68.6 cm (37 x 27 in.)
• Collection: DR - Misc. Countries
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2022.136

A detail from the museum

Pastel portraiture, which became fashionable in the 18th century, was prized for its powdery, matte surface, which created a fresco-like quality when placed in small rooms lit by candlelight.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Williamson, George C. Daniel Gardner, Painter in Pastel and Gouache; A Brief Account of His Life and Works. London: John Lane, 1921.
• Jeffares, Neil. Dictionary of pastellists before 1800. London: Unicorn Press, 2006.
• Sheail, Philip, ed. “The Third Earl Cowper and his Florentine Household 1760-90,” Hertfordshire Record Society, vol. 36, 2020.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.