Charles Goring of Wiston and an Unknown Attendant

unknown artist

ca. 1765

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A servant hands his master a woodcock in a wooded landscape, suggesting a double portrait commissioned to depict their relationship. A servant hands his master a woodcock in a wooded landscape, suggesting a double portrait commissioned to depict their relationship. In a wooded landscape, a servant hands his master a woodcock, the latest catch of a shooting expedition that has just been retrieved by the spaniel. With his other hand he holds a tricorne hat and pats the young gentleman on the back. The relaxed intimacy and apparent affection between the two figures suggest that this servant was a favored footman and that whoever commissioned the painting specifically requested him to be portrayed–making this a double portrait. Unlike the other black servants in this