Miss Bowles

Sir Joshua Reynolds had a unique talent for painting marvellous portraits of children and he emphasized the innocence and natural grace of children whenever he depicted them. Jane Bowles was the eldest child of Oldfield Bowles of North Aston, an amateur painter of some distinction. Bowles invited Reynolds to dinner to see how he would get on with his potential subject. According to Reynolds’s nineteenth-century biographer, Leslie: ‘the little girl was placed next to Sir Joshua at the dessert, where he amused her so much with stories and tricks that she thought him the most charming man in the world." This must have been Reynold's real talent - having a heart for children.