Diana disarming Cupid: Elizabeth Dashwood, Duchess of Manchester (1741-1832) and her Son George Montagu, Viscount Manderville (1763 – 1772)

Reynolds's Diana Disarming Cupid (1769) belongs to his practice of painting aristocratic subjects in allegorical guise — a fashion he imported from Continental grand manner painting. The sitters are Elizabeth Dashwood, Duchess of Manchester, and her infant son George Montagu, cast as the goddess of the hunt and the disarmed god of love. This conceit allows Reynolds to combine a sophisticated mythological allusion with a conventional mother-and-child portrait. The painting exemplifies his argument, made in the Discourses, that portrait painting could be elevated to history painting through mythological elevation.

Reynolds's handling is broad and confident, the flesh tones warm and luminous despite the known issues with his experimental pigments. The goddess's drapery is loosely painted to suggest classical sculpture while the landscape background is atmospheric and suggestive. The compositional interplay between mother bending forward and child reaching up creates dynamic energy.