Mary Boyle (née O’Brien), Lady Boyle, Nursing Her Son Charles
Sir Godfrey Kneller
1690
This is thought to be the earliest portrait of a nursing mother in British art. At a time when it was rare for upper-class women to breastfeed their children, and almost unheard of to represent it in portraiture, this painting of Boyle and her son Charles stands out for its intimate portrayal of the subject. The pair calls to mind the Virgin and Child, but Kneller renders them with remarkable humanity. In the seventeenth century, it was believed that character traits passed through breastmilk, leading some Protestant ministers to discourage employing wetnurses. Boyle, an Irish convert from Catholicism to Anglicanism, seems to have subscribed to this idea.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0