Portret van Anne Lascelles en haar dochter Frances c. 1764 - 1766

This is James Watson's mezzotint of Anne Lascelles with her daughter Frances. It's a print made after a painting by Joshua Reynolds, probably from the 1770s, that explores the public role of women at the time. The print visualizes ideals of motherhood and feminine virtue as promoted by the British Royal Academy, where Reynolds was the first president. It reflects a conservative view in which women are celebrated for their roles as mothers. At the time it was made, Britain was establishing its empire and images of domestic bliss helped normalize British authority, defining it in contrast to its colonial subjects. Through archival research and close attention to the print’s visual language, historians can better understand how art in the 1770s contributed to social and political ideologies. Art always exists within a specific social and institutional framework, and it’s up to us to reconstruct it.