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| Jean Raoux Lady at her Mirror ca. 1720-30 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| William Hogarth Portrait of Elizabeth Betts (Mrs Benjamin Hoadly) 1741 oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
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| Pompeo Batoni Portrait of Duchess Sforza-Cesarini ca. 1760-70 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, West Midlands |
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| Philippe Mercier Miss Adams before 1760 oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
Wonder
How like an angel came I down!
How bright are all things here!
When first among his works I did appear
O how their glory me did crown!
The world resembled his eternity
In which my soul did walk,
And ev'ry thing that I did see
Did with me talk.
The skies in their magnificence,
The lively, lovely air,
Oh how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!
The stars did entertain my sense,
And all the works of God, so bright and pure,
So rich and great did seem,
As if they ever must endure
In my esteem.
A native health and innocence
Within my bones did grow,
And while my God did all his glories show,
I felt a vigour in my sense
That was all spirit. I within did flow
With seas of life, like wine.
I nothing in the world did know
But 'twas divine.
Harsh ragged objects were conceal'd,
Oppression's tears and cries,
Sins, griefs, complaints, dissensions, weeping eyes
Were hid, and only things reveal'd
Which heav'nly spirits and the angels prize.
The state of innocence
And bliss, not trades and poverties,
Did fill my sense.
The streets were pav'd with golden stones,
The boys and girls were mine,
Oh how did all their lovely faces shine!
The sons of men were holy ones,
In joy and beauty they appear'd to me,
And every thing which here I found,
While like an angel I did see,
Adorn'd the ground.
Rich diamond and pearl and gold
In ev'ry place was seen,
Rare splendours, yellow, blue, red, white and green,
Mine eyes did everywhere behold.
Great wonders cloth'd with glory did appear,
Amazement was my bliss,
That and my wealth was ev'ry where,
No joy to this!
Curs'd and devis'd proprieties,
With envy, avarice
And fraud, those fiends that spoil e'en Paradise,
Flew from the splendour of mine eyes,
And so did hedges, ditches, limits, bounds.
I dream'd not aught of those,
But wander'd over all men's grounds,
And found repose.
Proprieties themselves were mine,
And hedges ornaments.
Walls, boxes, coffers, and their rich contents
Did not divide my joys, but all combine.
Clothes, ribbons, jewels, laces, I esteem'd
My joys by others worn:
For me they all to wear them seem'd
When I was born.
– Thomas Traherne (1637-1674)
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| Giambattista Tiepolo Young Woman with a Macaw 1760 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Joseph Highmore Miss Taylor ca. 1760-80 oil on canvas Manchester Art Gallery |
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| Joshua Reynolds Portrait of Lady Anstruther ca. 1763 oil on canvas Manchester Art Gallery |
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| Allan Ramsay Portrait of Jean Abercromby (Mrs Morison of Haddo) 1767 oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
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| Richard Caddick Portrait of Miss Elizabeth Wood (later Mrs Proudlove) ca. 1768-69 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
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| Jean-Baptiste Greuze Portrait of Sophie Arnould ca. 1773 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| John Francis Rigaud Mrs Hartle ca. 1775 oil on canvas Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales |
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| George Romney Mrs Marton and her son Oliver ca. 1775 oil on canvas Southampton City Art Gallery |
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| Johan Zoffany Portrait of Sophia Dumergue ca. 1780 oil on panel Victoria Art Gallery, Bath |
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| Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Portrait of Madame Perregaux 1789 oil on panel Wallace Collection, London |