The Ladies Waldegrave

The Ladies Waldegrave is a 1780-81 portrait by Joshua Reynolds, now in the National Gallery of Scotland, who acquired it in 1952. It shows the three daughters of James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave and Maria Walpole - from left to right, Charlotte (holding a skein of silk), Elizabeth (winding Charlotte's skein onto a card) and Anna (producing tambour lace). Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1781, it was commissioned the previous year by the subjects' mother in the hope of attracting potential suitors for them - all three of them were then unmarried.