George formed a fine collection of paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds, among them this portrait of the artist’s friend, the celebrated actor David Garrick. Garrick is shown in the character of the merchant Kitely from Ben Jonson’s Every Man in His Humour (1598), a play written to ‘sport with human follies’. Kitely’s jealous character is captured by Reynolds in Garrick’s sideways glance and clenched fist.

Purchased in 1812