George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney KB (1737-1806)

Reynolds painted George Macartney, later 1st Earl Macartney, around 1764, depicting the diplomat who would lead the first British embassy to the Qing Emperor of China in 1793 — one of the most celebrated diplomatic failures in British history. The embassy's refusal to perform the kowtow, and the Emperor Qianlong's dismissal of British trade demands, became a defining episode in the history of Western-Chinese relations. At the time of the Reynolds portrait, Macartney was a rising diplomat and administrator who had served as envoy to Russia and would later govern Grenada and the Cape Colony as well as leading the China mission. Reynolds's portrait captures the young man at the beginning of a career that would span the globe and illuminate both the ambitions and the limitations of British imperial diplomacy. The painting demonstrates Reynolds's characteristic approach to portraiture of intellectually ambitious men: a directness of characterization that conveys intelligence and confidence without the more elaborate symbolic apparatus he reserved for military commissions. Now in a National Trust property, the canvas connects to a broader portfolio of Reynolds portraits of men engaged in Britain's expanding imperial enterprise.

The formal portrait presents the diplomat with intellectual authority. Reynolds's handling combines dignified bearing with individual characterization.