Workshop of David Martin

This grand double portrait depicts George and Edward Finch-Hatton, the sons of British politician and diplomat Edward Finch-Hatton (circa 1697-1771). The elder brother George sits at a desk and draws his younger brother’s attention to a passage in the open elephant folio before him. Both young men wear “Van Dyck costume,” already antiquated in the eighteenth century, which underscores their historical and connoisseurial passions. 

The Scottish painter David Martin ran a large and productive workshop and the present work was probably executed as a studio replica of a larger version of the composition that remained in the Finch-Hatton family for several generations.¹

¹ See L. Dixon, "David Martin (1737-1797): A Catalogue Raisonné of his Portraits in Oil," MPhil Dissertation, University of Saint Andrews 1995, p. 86, cat. no. 13.