A
conversation piece, It depicts the three eldest sons of the Scottish aristocrat and politician
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. A
favourite of
George III, Bute replaced the
Duke of Newcastle as
Prime Minister in 1762. However the
Treaty of Paris he signed ending the
Seven Years' War with France and Spain made him deeply unpopular and he resigned in April 1763 to be replaced by
George Grenville. The three boys are shown around a tree on Bute's
country estate of Luton Park in
Bedfordshire. They have abandoned
archery to look at nesting birds. The painting may have been started around the time Bute resigned his office. Today the painting is in the collection of the
Tate Britain in
Pimlico having been acquired in 2002 through the
acceptance in lieu scheme, with support from the Tate members and the
Art Fund. Bute also commissioned a companion painting of his three daughters from Zoffany, which was also acquired by the Tate in 2002. It features the three girls posed in a similar composition. ==References==