Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half
- Artist: Francis Cotes
- Date: 1767
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 2000 x 1603 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the "Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half" by Francis Cotes, painted in 1767. The portrait shows two young siblings from a wealthy Norfolk family, children of Sir Edward Astley and his second wife Anne Milles. They’re caught mid‑play on a classical terrace that echoes the family seat at Melton Constable, complete with a balustrade and a small, contented dog in the foreground. Anna Maria, in her seventh year, holds her brother’s plumed hat aloft with a playful grin, while little Edward looks on, unaware of the future that awaits him as a soldier in the British Army. An inscription inside the canvas records the sitters’ names and ages, adding a personal touch that feels almost like a family note. The work was likely commissioned by the children’s maternal grandfather, Christopher Milles, rather than by their own father, a detail that explains why the portrait survived in the Milles line rather than the Astley line. Cotes, a prominent 18th‑century portraitist, rendered the children with a keen eye for detail—soft fabrics, the gleam of the hat’s plume, and the subtle expression that hints at the fleeting nature of childhood. The oil on canvas, measuring about 79 by 64 cm, offers a snapshot of aristocratic leisure, the bonds of family, and a touch of the inevitable loss that follows.
See it in person
Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
