Henry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely (1709-1783) and his wife Frances Monroe, Countess of Ely (d.1821)

Reynolds painted Henry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely, and his wife Frances around 1775, demonstrating his command of the double portrait format at the height of his career. The 1st Earl of Ely was an Irish peer whose elevation reflected the complex patronage politics of the Anglo-Irish Protestant establishment, and the commission for a double portrait by Reynolds represented a significant investment — double portraits cost considerably more than single commissions and were reserved for families with both the resources and the self-confidence to commission the most prestigious portraitist in Britain. Reynolds's challenge in double portraits was to maintain individual characterization while creating a compositional unity that expressed the relationship between the sitters; Van Dyck had solved the problem through elegant interlocking poses, and Reynolds adapted those solutions to Georgian taste. The dimensions of this canvas — over 240 by 180 centimetres — situate it at the grander end of Reynolds's portrait scale, requiring the full-length compositional authority he had absorbed from Italian Renaissance and Baroque models. Now in a National Trust property, the painting represents the Anglo-Irish aristocracy's investment in asserting their cultural status through the most celebrated British painter of the age.

The paired figures are composed with complementary poses and gestures. Reynolds's warm palette and flowing handling create an image of aristocratic companionship.