Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney: The Archers
Reynolds shows two aristocratic young men apparently taking part in a medieval or Renaissance hunt, in a composition deliberately echoing the example of the great Italian artist, Titian. It became fashionable in the later eighteenth century for young aristocrats to identify with the romantic, virile figure of the archer. Reynolds conjures up an older, more chivalrous era; the pile of game emphasises that they are not common 'foresters' but noblemen exploiting their aristocratic right to hunt.
