The Pybus Family
The Pybus Family is an oil-on-canvas portrait by British artist Nathaniel Dance-Holland, painted around 1769. It shows John Pybus, an East India Company official, with his wife Martha and their four children. Pybus had spent many years abroad in India and the Dutch East Indies before returning to England with his family in 1768. Dance-Holland was a popular portrait painter who exhibited portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte at the Royal Academy’s first Summer Exhibition in 1769. The painting is now in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, after being acquired in 2003. The scene is outdoors under a large tree: the mother sits on the right, holding the youngest child on her lap; the father looks on and gently touches the child. The older son sits on the ground, facing the viewer. On the left stand the two sisters: the taller one holds roses and looks at the viewer, while the other looks to the side and holds her hat. A countryside landscape appears in the background.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:23 (CET).