Unknown Artist, The Cholmondeley Ladies At The Tate Britain Museum In London UK England Editorial Image

Two sisters looking at the masterpiece with two women and their children at Tate Britain in 2020. According to the inscription , this painting shows Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family, Who were born the same day, Married the same day, And brought to Bed gave birth the same day. To mark this dynastic event, they are formally presented in bed, their babies wrapped in scarlet fabric. Identical at a superficial glance, the lace, jewellery and eye colours of the ladies and infants are in fact carefully differentiated. The format echoes tomb sculpture of the period. The women, whose precise identities are unclear, were probably painted by an artist based in Chester, near the Cholmondeley estates.