Elizabeth Cust, Mrs Yorke (c.1770). Francis Cotes (English, 1726-1770). Oil, wood and canvas. National Trust, Erddig.
This portrait of Elizabeth Cust was commissioned to mark her marriage to Philip Yorke I in 1770. She stands in a landscape posing as a shepherdess and holds a crook decorated with flowers in her right hand. The costume, flowers and natural setting allude to notions of innocence and purity.











