CC0 · no rights reserved
George Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this 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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineGeorge Clavering Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper, 1785. Hugh Douglas Hamilton (Irish, 1729–1808). Pastel on paper stretched on linen; sheet: 94 x 68.6 cm (37 x 27 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2022.136
