Mrs George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck and her Children

George Frederick Watts exhibited this portrait in 1860, depicting Mrs. Cavendish-Bentinck with her children. The large oil on canvas measures 1270 by 1016 millimeters. Watts was a leading Victorian portraitist who painted many of the era's prominent families.

George Cavendish-Bentinck was a passionate admirer of Italian art, particularly Venetian painting. His wife Prudence Penelope also sat for Watts around 1857-1859 in a separate three-quarter-length portrait now at Northampton Museums. The family clearly valued Watts's work and commissioned multiple portraits.

Interestingly, Watts wrote to George Cavendish-Bentinck in 1861: "I have no doubt the frames will do capitally. As far as I am concerned my judgement on frames is worth nothing." W.G.F. Cavendish-Bentinck presented the painting to Tate in 1948, where it remains today.