3-044-036 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Joseph (1741-1786) and his Brother John Gulston (1750-1764), 1754. The brothers Joseph and John Gulston appear close-up in half-length, standing before an expanse of wooded landscape. The elder brother, Joseph, age thirteen, wears a "Van Dyck" costume, a costume in the style of Anthony van Dyck's portrait paintings from the 1600s. Also in a historicizing vein, his younger brother John wears a dress, traditionally worn by both boys and girls until they reached four years of age, and holds a wicker basket full of colorful summer blossoms.