The British nobleman George Harry Grey succeeded his father as the fifth Earl of Stamford in 1768. He was born and raised in Leicestershire County in the English Midlands, and later served in national politics. West painted many aristocratic portraits—after leaving Pennsylvania for London, he befriended influential people and secured the patronage of the Archbishop of York, who introduced him to King George III. His portraits became sought-after emblems of wealth and status in English society.

Trumbull served as an aide-de-camp for General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. This portrait was painted for a friend of Trumbull’s from the war years, John Barker Church, who helped finance the artist’s studies and career in England. Depicted with a rifle, drum, and plumed hat, Church’s son Philip appears ready to follow in his father’s footsteps as a supporter of military causes, and did so when he later became an aide-de-camp to his uncle, Alexander Hamilton.

Robert Shewell Jr. was a young Philadelphia shipmaster. His sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of leading American expatriate artist Benjamin West. Benbridge had lived with the West family in London, and his portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Shewell are painted with the warmth of family and kinship. The sitter’s fashionable outfit indicates that the portrait was painted in the early 1770s, immediately after the artist’s return from London.

Joshua Henshaw was born in Boston and entered the mercantile profession at an early age. He rose to a position of social influence following his marriage to Elizabeth Bill, the daughter of a prosperous merchant. He served frequently as town magistrate and served on various town committees with figures such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Although Henshaw never achieved the fame of some of his fellow patriots, he did manage to use his position to advance colonial rights and protest British rule.

Mary Boyer was the wife of Robert Shewell Jr., a young Philadelphia shipmaster. Her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, was the wife of leading American expatriate artist Benjamin West. Benbridge had lived with the West family in London, and his portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Shewell are painted with the warmth of family and kinship. The sitter’s fashionable outfit indicates that the portrait was painted in the early 1770s, immediately after the artist’s return from London.

In her portrait by Feke, Mrs. Apthorp wears a dress with the sheen and rich color of copper. The view to her left reveals a lawn, a tree, and an expanse of sky, which provides a contrast to the tumble of blue drapery behind her. Feke worked to situate his sitter convincingly in the imaginary setting, and this idealized, decorative portrait was not an intimate glimpse of her personality or her life, but a symbol of her status in society.

John Coats Browne was the son of a Philadelphia ironmonger who betrayed his pacifist Quaker upbringing to bear arms in the American Revolution. In this portrait he is about 10 years old, standing nearly life-size, his soft, wistful gaze off-setting the confidence of his stance. His pose was based on Thomas Gainsborough’s 1779 portrait of Jonathan Buttall, better known as Blue Boy. By using Gainsborough’s model, Wright depicted Browne with the sophistication and grandeur of European portraiture.

Although Maria was of Dutch origin, the model for her posture and attributes was English. This painter used an English portrait print as his source material, but he used some invention in the way Maria turns her head and the depiction of the parklike setting. The rest of the painting features elements copied from the English print, such as the garland she holds and the lamb that nuzzles sweetly against her. Such visual quotations were common practice among artists in the New World at the time.

Mary Turner Sargent stands in front of a masonry wall next to a fountain, a sliver of sky visible above her head. With her left hand she delicately gathers the skirt of her dress, perhaps to keep it away from the splashing fountain. With her right hand she holds a scallop shell under the water. The shell was a conventional attribute of Venus, goddess of love and beauty, while water was symbolic of purity and fertility.

This painting depicts the three children of a prosperous Boston family. The wealth and cultural refinement of the parents, Arthur and Joanna Mason, are reflected in the postures and clothing worn by their children. David, portrayed as a young gentleman, holds a silver-topped walking stick that symbolizes his position as the male heir, while his sisters hold symbols of their feminine attributes.