Annabella Bunbury (Lady Blake) as Juno

Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (1723 - 1792)

RA Collection: Art

This print reproduces Reynolds' portrait of Annabella, Lady Blake (1745-1818), as the goddess Juno receiving the ‘cestus’, from the goddess Venus. This was a magical belt made for Venus by Vulcan and imbued with the power to inspire passion and desire. Reynolds frequently depicted his aristocratic sitters and others in the guise of figures from classical mythology.

Annabella Blake was the daughter of the Reverend Sir William Bunbury, 5th Baronet, and sister of the caricaturist William Henry Bunbury. In 1762 she married Sir Patrick Blake (c. 1742-1784), 1st Baronet, and later MP for Sudbury in Suffolk. In 1776, Annabella left Sir Patrick Blake for the politician George Boscawen. The Blakes were divorced in 1778 and Annabella married Boscawen in 1779. She died in 1818 and is buried at St Peter in Thanet, Broadstairs, Kent. Reynolds also painted Sir Patrick Blake and various members of the Bunbury family including Annabella’s sister-in-law Lady Sarah Bunbury and her nephew Henry Edward Bunbury who was Reynolds’ godson.