Philip Howard and Catherine Howard, his sister

Northcote, James, after · 1806

Mezzotint portrait on paper of siblings Philip Henry Howard (1801-1883) and Catherine Howard (1802-1861) of Corby Castle (Cumberland). Proof print engraved and published by William Say (1768-1834) in London in 1806. It is a copy of a painting by James Northcote (1746-1831). These are the eldest children of antiquarian Henry Howard (1757-1842) and his second wife, Catherine Mary Neave (d.1849). Philip is depicted as Bacchus (Dionysus) the god of wine. He sits on a leopard skin (an animal frequently associated with Bacchus) beside a sleeping lion. Catherine is perhaps depicted as Ceres (Demeter), goddess of agriculture and fertility, who is often shown with a cornucopia. She playfully grasps the grapes vines which grow all around her. A thyrsus (fennel staff with pinecone tip wrapped in ivy leaves), pan pipes and a cornucopia with fruit are found in the lower right.