Girl with a Baby

Girl with a Baby is believed to depict Emma Hart (1765-1815), the famous artists' model and performer, who eventually became Lady Hamilton. While this intimate scene was not intended as a portrait, some scholars have suggested that this is a picture of Emma with her illegitimate child, born in 1782. However, it is unlikely that Emma would have had the opportunity to be painted with her baby by a high-profile painter such as Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), as her daughter was sent away to avoid negative publicity.  

The painting’s state of deterioration is a result of Reynolds’ experiments with different pigments and varnishes. The prominent surface cracks were caused by his use of bitumen, a sticky, black liquid form of petroleum. The damaged work may have survived only because the British artist William Beechey (1753-1839) painted a portrait of his friend Francis Bourgeois (1753-1811), one of Dulwich Picture Gallery’s founders, on the back of this panel and later gave it to the Gallery.