William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737-1805)

Reynolds painted William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, around 1771, well over a decade before Shelburne became Prime Minister and negotiated the recognition of American independence through the Peace of Paris in 1783. Shelburne's premiership of 1782-83 was brief and politically uncomfortable — he was mistrusted by almost all factions — but the peace he negotiated, which granted the United States the enormous territory west of the Appalachians to the Mississippi, was strategically generous by any measure. Reynolds's portrait captures the younger Shelburne, a reforming Whig politician associated with the circle of Lord Chatham, before these defining moments of his career. Shelburne was unusual among British politicians for his intellectual sophistication: he employed Jeremy Bentham as his secretary and maintained close contacts with the philosophes of the French Enlightenment. The National Trust's holding of the portrait connects it to a network of Shelburne family properties whose decoration Reynolds contributed to significantly. The painting serves as a reminder of how many of Reynolds's sitters were involved in the great political events of the late eighteenth century.

The formal portrait presents the earl with political authority. Reynolds's Grand Manner handling creates an image of aristocratic statesmanship.