This evocative family portrait offers a glimpse into the life of 18^th Century English nobility.

The Southwells are a noble family whose roots go back to the early 17^th Century. In 1776 Edward Southwell III was granted the Barony of de Clifford (a title in abeyance at the time), and the line extends to today, with the 28th Baron de Clifford sitting in the House of Lords.

Charles Phillips (1708-1747) was a leading portraitist of his time, having painted many noble and royal portraits. Two of his paintings are part of the Royal Collection Trust.

In this portrait, signed and dated 1731, we see Edward Southwell Sr (1671-1730) and his family on the grounds of their Estate, Kings Weston House near Bristol. On the far left is Mrs. Helena Le Grand (Edward’s sister). Next to her is Mrs. Southwell (Edward’s second wife, the first having died in 1709). On the right is Edward Southwell Jr (1705-1755), Edward’s son by his first marriage and next to him a “Negro Page” (in the euphemistic words of an old label on the painting; more on him below.)

Phillips has arranged the figures in an arc, anchoring the composition. The arc stretches from Mrs. Le Grand’s red dress on the left, through the colourful parrot, onward to the heads of Mr. and Mrs. Southwell, down again to the younger Southwell and finishing on the right with the enslaved boy.

As Edward Sr. died in 1730, this must be a posthumous portrait, making it especially poignant. (Presumably Phillips used another portrait to capture his likeness.)

One can imagine the late Edward’s family looking affectionately at the portrait, remembering the time spent with him on the grounds of Kings Weston House. Southwell stands between wife and son, eyes directed toward one, hand pointed toward the other, symbolically balancing the needs of both.

Devoted husband and father? Perhaps. Slave-owner as well. English noble families of the 18^th Century often had financial and practical connections with the slave trade. The Southwells themselves were granted a tract of land by the Crown in 1766, which Edward Southwell III (1738-1777) – the son of the younger Southwell in the portrait – developed with partners into a plantation worked by slave labour.

This portrait shows us that slave ownership was not always a matter for distant colonies. This young boy, likely deprived of his freedom from birth (born to enslaved parents), was made to serve the Southwell family in their home. We see him here sitting half cross-legged, wearing a house servant’s uniform and a faint smile. He gaze is turned upward; at first we think is looking at his Master, then we realise he must be in fact enjoying the sight of the parrot eating from the hand of his Master’s sister. Phillips has placed him on the ground, beneath the rest of the family in pose as in station.

Yet here he is in this portrait just the same, as if he were a member of the family. Was the family fond of him? Was he a playmate of the younger Southwell? Or was he simply there in the Garden that day to serve them their refreshments? The answers to these questions must remain unanswered, known only to the sitters frozen in time by Phillips’ paintbrush. Three centuries later we are fortunate to have this portrait as a snapshot of 18^th Century England, both its nobility and its baseness.

The Artist

Charles Philips, the son of a portraitist, likely acquired his artistic skills from his father. He specialised primarily in painting small portraits and conversation pieces. George Vertue observed that in painting small figure portraits and conversation scenes, Philips gained significant recognition and patronage among fashionable circles, including members of the Royal Family. In 1732, he produced conversation works for the Duchess of Portland and the Duke of Somerset. During the 1730s, his conversation pieces became increasingly complex, featuring more numerous subjects engaged in a greater variety of activities.

Following the precedent set by contemporaries such as Philippe Mercier and William Hogarth, both prominent painters of small-scale conversation pieces, Philips transitioned into the more lucrative field of portrait painting later in the decade. His career peaked in 1737 when he painted full-length portraits of the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Prince of Wales was renowned for his patronage of the arts, particularly towards immigrant artists including Jacopo Amigoni and Philippe Mercier, who were principal influences on Philips.

Two of Philips’ paintings in the Royal Collection depict fashionable London clubs not recorded elsewhere. The first, from 1732, shows Frederick, Prince of Wales, as a modern King Arthur with his ‘La Table Ronde’ club. The second features the Prince of Wales in a club inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry V and his companions. Philips’ known works are mostly from the 1730s, with his last recorded portrait from 1740; the reasons for his later inactivity remain unknown.