3-075-276 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Cottagers, 1788. "Fancy Pictures," which were a combination portrait and genre scene, became very popular at the end of the eighteenth century. One type consisted of middle-class patrons, dressed as peasants or farmers, in staged scenes of rural life. In this large canvas painted for Mr. Macklin, a London print seller, Reynolds represents his patron's wife spinning, his daughter feeding chickens, her friend Miss Potts carrying a sheaf of wheat on her head, and the family dog waiting attentively, all outside a country cottage.