Lady Smith (Charlotte Delaval) and Her Children (George Henry, Louisa, and Charlotte)

Reynolds's Lady Smith and Her Children (c. 1787) is a group portrait in the tradition of Raphael's Holy Family that Reynolds explicitly cultivated — the mother with her children in a composition that simultaneously documented a specific English family and elevated them within the tradition of the sacred motherhood image. Reynolds's theory of the Grand Manner — elevating portraiture to the dignity of history painting by drawing on the compositional and coloristic resources of the Italian masters — found its fullest expression in these mother-and-child group portraits. Lady Smith's composition draws on Raphael's Madonna groups while maintaining the documentary function of family portraiture.

The pyramidal composition echoes Renaissance Madonna and Child groups, lending classical dignity to the family portrait. Reynolds's warm palette and soft, atmospheric handling create a tender mood appropriate to the maternal subject.