Portrait of Sir Edward Walpole's Children

Stephen Slaughter · 1747

The painting represents the four children of Sir Edward Walpole, all of whom can be easily recognized according to their ages. Laura, the eldest, married in 1758 the Hon. F. Keppel, Bishop of Exeter. Maria, the second, married in 1759 James, second Earl Waldegrave, and in 1766 the Duke of Gloucester (1736-1807). Charlotte married in 1760 Lionel, fifth Earl of Dysart (1738-1789). The boy, Edward, who became Colonel Walpole, died unmarried, aged thirty-one, in 1771. The bird in the painting is a Cuban Amazon parrot, either imported, or the artist may have copied it from a book.