Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham

Reynolds painted Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, around 1770, capturing the Whig statesman who would twice serve as Prime Minister and whose second ministry negotiated the recognition of American independence. Rockingham was the leader of the largest Whig faction opposed to the prosecution of the American war, and his political convictions placed him in fundamental opposition to George III's determination to maintain British authority over the colonies. His first ministry had repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, reducing tensions temporarily; his second ministry in 1782 moved directly toward peace negotiations, but Rockingham died in office after only three months, preventing him from completing the settlement that his ministers achieved under Shelburne. Reynolds was a Rockinghamite in his sympathies — through his friendships with Burke and other Whig intellectuals — and the portrait carries the authority appropriate to the leader of the constitutional opposition. Now at Mansion House, York, the painting documents the chief political alternative to the policies that lost Britain its American colonies.

The portrait presents the marquis with political authority. Reynolds's Grand Manner handling elevates the statesman.