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Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723–1792

Sarah Campbell

1777 to 1778

Campbell was part of a powerful family based both in the Scottish Highlands and West Wales. In 1777, her brother John inherited their grandfather’s estates. That same year, he commissioned this painting of his sister from Reynolds, one of the most popular portraitists of the age. By sitting for the artist, nineteen-year-old Sarah displayed her wealth and position in society. Rather than stick to established formulas, Reynolds often used new pigments and mixes, which resulted in some of his colors, especially his pinks and reds, fading over time. This portrait is unusually well-preserved, showcasing the fashionable contrast between the sitter’s pale skin and her rosy cheeks, a detail that has been lost in many other Reynolds works.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025

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Sir Joshua Reynolds, born in Plympton, England, 1723; active in England and Italy; died in London, England, 1792, Sarah Campbell, 1777 to 1778, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1973.1.48.
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Campbell was part of a powerful family based both in the Scottish Highlands and West Wales. In 1777, her brother John inherited their grandfather’s estates. That same year, he commissioned this painting of his sister from Reynolds, one of the most popular portraitists of the age. By sitting for the artist, nineteen-year-old Sarah displayed her wealth and position in society. Rather than stick to established formulas, Reynolds often used new pigments and mixes, which resulted in some of his colors, especially his pinks and reds, fading over time. This portrait is unusually well-preserved, showcasing the fashionable contrast between the sitter’s pale skin and her rosy cheeks, a detail that has been lost in many other Reynolds works.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025

  • Creator

    Sir Joshua Reynolds, born in Plympton, England, 1723; active in England and Italy; died in London, England, 1792

  • Title

    Sarah Campbell

  • Former Title(s)

    Miss Sarah Campbell, later Mrs. Woodhouse [1985, Cormack, YCBA Concise Catalogue]

  • Date

    1777 to 1778

  • Materials & Techniques

    Oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    50 1/4 x 40 inches (127.6 x 101.6 cm)

  • Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering

    Label on verso, upper center: “Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. | [logo] No 35565 | By Appointment | To His Late Majesty King George VI | Fine Art Publishers Thos. Agnew | & Sons Ltd. London | London, 43 Old Bond Street, | Piccadilly, W1X 4BA”; upper center: “[blue logo for The British Council] | Fine Arts Department | Artist Reynolds. | Title Miss Sarah Campbell | Collection The Trustees of the Lord Hillingdon | Exhibition Exhibition of British Painting | (1720-1960) U.S.S.R. 1960 | Catalogue No. 21”; upper center, by hand: “Mellon | #192”; upper left: “Pitt & Scott Ltd | London | F. [handwritten] 4818 | [typed] 4715”

  • Credit Line

    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

  • Copyright Status

    Public Domain

  • Accession Number

    B1973.1.48

  • Classification

    Paintings

  • Collection

    Paintings and Sculpture

  • Link to Frame

    B1973.1.48FR

  • Subject Terms

    clouds | costume | hair | landscape | light | portrait | sky | woman

  • Associated People

    Wodehouse (née Campbell), Sarah (1758–1834)

  • Access

    On view

  • Link

    https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:4934

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Commissioned by John Campbell, first Baron Cawdor (ca. 1753–1821), the sitter’s brother, from Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), the artist [1][a]; by descent to his son, John Campbell, first Earl Cawdor (1790–1860), Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, Wales; by descent to his son, John Frederick Vaughan Campbell, second Earl Cawdor (1817–1898), Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, Wales; purchased by Charles Henry Mills, first Baron Hillingdon (1830–1898), Hillingdon Court, London, England [b]; by descent to his son, Charles William Mills, second Baron Hillingdon (1855–1919), Hillingdon Court, London, England; by descent to his son, Arthur Robert Mills, third Baron Hillingdon (1891–1952), Hillingdon Court, London, England [3]; by descent to his son, Charles Hedworth Mills, fourth Baron Hillingdon, (1922–1978), Hillingdon Court, London, England; purchased at auction by Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, England, at Christie, Manson & Woods, in London, England, June 23, 1972 (lot 115, ‘Portrait of Mrs. Sarah Wodehouse’), in "Highly Important English Pictures c. 1600 – c. 1850" [4][c][d]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1973 [e]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1973.

Notes:
[1] The Campbells were a wealthy family based in the Scottish Highlands and West Wales. By the time John Campbell (1695–1777) died, his youngest son, Pryse Cambell (1726–1768), had already predeceased him. As a result, the estates intended for Pryse passed onto his eldest son, John Campbell. The inheritance made the young Cambell a very rich man, and he subsequently commissioned Reynolds to paint portraits of him and his sister, Sarah, in January 1778. Campbell was made Baron Cawdor of Castlemartin in the County of Pembroke in 1796.

[2] The second Earl of Cawdor exhibited the painting in the Royal Academy’s 1880 Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School (no. 142, ‘Portrait of Miss Sarah Campbell). At some point between this exhibition and the Earl’s death, he sold the painting to Charles Henry Mills. Mills was the only son of Charles Mills, first Baronet (1792–1872). His title was raised to Baron in 1886.

[3] The second Baron Hillingdon’s eldest son, Charles Thomas Mills (1887–1915), was killed while fighting on the Western Front in France in 1915. As a result, the baron’s title passed onto his second son, Arthur Robert Mills.

[4] From June 5 to July 13, 1973, Thomas Agnew & Sons held an exhibition on ‘Painting in England, 1630–1870’ at their Old Bond Street location, in which the painting was listed (no. 20, ‘Miss Sarah Campbell’).
Unlike Thomas Gainsborough, who favored a close imitation of nature to capture likeness, Joshua Reynolds advocated a generalizing style of painting to lift his portraits away from the contemporary moment. Although he claimed to seek a more timeless style, he was also an experimental painter who privileged immediate and temporary visual effects over the long-term stability of his paintings, often using pigments known to fade or degrade over time. This, however, is an exceptionally well-preserved picture, still retaining the reds in the flesh that have faded in many of his other portraits. Campbell’s portrait was commissioned by her elder brother, John Campbell, first Baron Cawdor of Castlemartin, a strong supporter of war against the thirteen American colonies that had recently issued their Declaration of Independence when Miss Campbell sat to Reynolds. Gallery label for installation of ycba collection, 2016
Sarah Campbell was a member of a wealthy branch of the Campbell family of Cawdor Castle in the Highlands of Scotland, and of Stackpole Court in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Sarah Campbell's father, Pryse Campbell of Cawdor, and her mother and namesake both died when she was still a girl, and this portrait was commissioned along with a full-length portrait of himself by her eldest brother, the Old Etonian, army officer, and moderate Whig politician John Campbell (later 1st Baron Cawdor of Castlemartin). In 1782, Sarah Campbell married Thomas Wodehouse, a lawyer. The dress probably belonged with other lavish studio props and costumes that Reynolds kept in his London studio.

In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Sir Walter Armstrong, Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of the Royal Academy, Scribner, London ; New York, 1900, p. 198, Folio A N 38 [ORBIS]

British Institution, Catalogue of pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English masters, With which the proprietors have favoured the institution , William Nicol, London, June 1847, p. 14, no. 148, Fiche B1244 Fiche N.4.2.664 (SML) [ORBIS]

Christie's Sale Catalogue : Highly Important English Pictures c.1600 - c. 1850 : 23 June 1972, Christie's, 1972, pp. 58, 59, lot 115, Auction Catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christie's sale catalogue : Pictures by Old Masters : 1 June 1934, Christie's, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, June 1, 1934, p. 11, Lot 21, Fiche B51 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 184, 185, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Cotton Esq., A Catalogue of the Portraits Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knt., P.R.A., Compiled from his autograph memorandum books, and from printed catalogues , Longman, London and Plymouth, UK, 1857, p. 14, NJ18 R36 C65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibition of works by [the] Old Masters and by deceased Old Masters of the British school including a special collection of works by Holbein and his school : Winter Exhibition, 11th year, , Royal Academy of Arts, 1880, p. 29, no. 142, Fiche B116 [ORBIS]

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 57, ND466 .G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Algernon Graves, A history of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., Henry Graves & Co., London, UK, 1899, p. 148, NJ18 R36 G73 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Also available on Microfiche: Fiche B6 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Elsa D'Esterre Keeling, Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., Scribner, London ; New York, NY, 1902, p. 139, J18 R336 902K (SML) http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014894251 [Website]

Charles Robert Leslie, Life and times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with notices of some of his contemporaries. , John Murray, London, 1865, pp. 213, 224, NJ18 R36 L47 (YCBA) Also available on Microfche: The Nineteenth Century: Visual Arts ; Pos: Fiche.N.4.2.357) (SML Fiche B1244 Fiche.N.4.2.357) [YCBA]

David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, a complete catalogue of his paintings , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000, v. 1, p. 119 ; v. 2, p. 489, no. 305, fig. 1263, NJ18 R36 A12 M35 2000 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1630-1870, June 5th - July 13, 1973 , Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., June 5 1973 -July 13, 1973, pp. [17-18], no. 20, Dealer Catalogues [ORBIS]

Ellis Waterhouse, Reynolds, Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner, London, 1941, p. 86, NJ18 R36 W37 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, p. 31, N590.2 A82 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Zhivopis' Velikobritanii, Iskusstvo, Moskva, 1960, p. 28, no. 21, ND464 .A5 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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