Likely painted when the artist was based in Madras, this bust-length portrait by the Scottish artist Katherine Read is one of a set of four portraits depicting Read’s three teenaged nephews and her sister, who all moved to India. These portraits likely rank amongst her very last paintings as the Beatons, who were originally from Kilrie in Fife, probably arrived together in Madras in June 1776, and Read died whilst on her passage home to Britain in December 1778.

Although the portraits of Jean’s sons share the same direct family provenance, the portrait of the boys’ mother Jean (b. 1730) – being Katherine Read’s younger sister - was probably painted under different circumstances and likely paired with a similarly composed portrait of her daughter Helena Beatson (private collection). Shown gazing beyond the picture plane, with a tender maternal smile - presumably originally directed toward her daughter’s portrait and now towards her sons - Jean wears a fashionable Indian shawl and a large pearl earring; attire consistent of an expat enjoying the fortunes the East India Company brought to its affiliates.

Each of Read’s nephews are presented in different costume but positioned in such a way - within their matching feigned ovals - that would suggest that their portraits were intended as a set. The brothers probably arrived in Madras together in 1776; it seems plausible that these portraits were painted soon after their arrival, possibly even to commemorate their recent appointments as cadets for the Royal Engineers. The two eldest brothers, Robert (1758 – 1805)[1] and Alexander (1759 – 1833), became prominent figures within the British East India Company as military engineers, Robert ultimately becoming a Captain within the Royal Engineers. Not much is known of John (b. 1760), the youngest brother, other than he was ‘lost at sea’.

Alexander had a distinguished military career with the East India Company, achieving the rank of Colonel, Major, and Major General in the Royal Engineers. After retiring from the service in the early 1800s, and authoring several books about military strategy, he was appointed Governor of Saint Helena. He married Davidson Reid (1787 - 1865) and had 13 children. It is most likely that our set of portraits descended via his line of the family.[2]

Katherine Read was a pioneering and highly successful portraitist in pastels and oils, whose best work has often (since) been confused for that of her near-contemporary Francis Cotes (1726 – 1770). She was the first Scottish woman to train as an artist and was one of the most fashionable portraitists of the 18th century, painting royalty and gaining fame across Europe, where she was regarded as “The Rosalba of Britain”.

After training under Maurice-Quentin de la Tour in Paris and Louis-Gabriel Blanchet in Rome, she moved to London in 1753, establishing herself in St James’s. After exhibiting regularly at the Society of Artists and Royal Academy, she moved to India in search of new opportunities and a husband for her niece, Helena Beatson (1762 - 1839), who was her only pupil. After Helena married, and with failing health, Read decided to return to England in December 1778, but died whilst at sea.

Katherine Read was born into a rich Jacobite family in Dundee in 1723, one of thirteen children of Alexander and Elizabeth Read. Her maternal uncle, Sir John Wedderburn, 5th Bt. of Blackness, fought in the Jacobite rising of 1745, for which he was executed. Shortly after, the family sought sanctuary in Paris. There, Katherine’s nascent career as an artist blossomed. It is thought that her contemporary, Robert Strange (1721 – 1792), himself a Jacobite artist in exile, introduced her to the French artistic milieu. In Paris, she studied with the pastellist Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (1704 – 1788), whom she would later refer to as ‘my model among all the Portrait Painters that I have yet seen’.[3]

Following the Young Pretender’s expulsion from France in 1748, Read followed many of the Jacobite contingent to Rome, where she arrived in late 1750. There she was befriended by the abbé Peter Grant, the agent in Rome for the Scottish Catholic Mission, and studied oil painting with the French artist and winner of the ‘prix de Rome’, Louis-Gabriel Blanchet (1705 – 1772). Read’s connections ensured that she had access to leading patrons, most pivotal being cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692 – 1779), who opened his collection to her. After Katherine copied four heads by Rosalba Carriera from his collection, Albani himself sat to her, evidently pleased with her endeavours. It is speculated that Katherine may even have met Carriera through the cardinal at this time.[4]

She remained in Rome until 1753, when she decided to try her fortune in England, with the assistance of Albani, who helped habilitate her reputation, regardless of Read’s family’s alignment in the war. She set up her residence in St. James’s Place and later in Jermyn Street, where she soon established herself as the most fashionable pastellist to aristocratic sitters, notably portraits of women and children.[5] At this time, Read exhibited in London at the Society of Artists (1760 – 1772), of which she became an honorary member in 1769 along with two other female pastel artists Mary Benwell and Mary Black, in response to the Royal Academy accepting Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser. Later, she left to join the Royal Academy, but was expelled from the Society as a consequence. She exhibited at the R.A. from 1773 – 1776. At this time many of her works were engraved and reproduced by popular demand in mezzotint by Valentine Green (1739 – 1813) and James Watson.[6]

In 1777, with her popularity waning due to a wave of pastellist artists in her wake,[7] Read left England for India as a chaperone for her niece and pupil, Helena Beatson (1763 – 1839), whose father was a surgeon in the East India Company’s service. Helena was destined to find a husband, ultimately marrying Sir Charles Oakeley Bt., Governor of Madras, and Katherine set up a practice there painting portraits of the English officers. But, with her health deteriorating, in December 1778 she set sail back to England, sadly dying at sea on the return voyage.

[1] Robert served with the Royal Engineers for many years, eventually becoming a Captain after planning the Fort of Goree, on the coast of Africa. He married Jean Campbell, only child of Murdoch Campbell of Rossend Castle, on 13th April 1790.

[2] More about his military accolades can be read here: A. J. Beatson, Genealogical Account of the Family of Beatson, Edinburgh 1860.

[3] N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, on-line edition, www.pastellists.com.

[4] Read’s early portraits in London, shortly after her return from Rome, such as Mrs Garrick (c. 1755; London, V&A), share the tilt-headed pose and soft modelling of Carriera’s work.

[5] Simon and Ethelred Yorke (c. 1775; Erddig, Clwyd, NT) is a typical double portrait of children in an oval format.

[6] A pair of plates, by J. Finlayson, of the celebrated Gunning sisters, the Duchess of Argyll and Countess of Coventry, were particularly popular.

[7] Including Francis Cotes (1726 – 1770), Margaret King (active 1779 – 1787), Daniel Gardner (1750 – 1805) and John Russell (1745 – 1806).