John Stuart, 3. Earl of Bute

By 1773, when Reynolds painted this full-length, John Stuart, Earl of Bute, had been out of power for ten years and mostly kept clear of public life. His brief spell as prime minister in the early 1760s had made him one of the most disliked men in Britain, a Scot close to the young King George III, blamed for an unpopular peace and suspected of far too much influence at court. Reynolds shows none of that. He dresses Bute in the robes of the Order of the Garter and borrows the stance of a famous antique statue, the Apollo Belvedere, to lend him the poise of a classical hero. By this date Bute spent much of his time on botany, funding plant collectors and helping shape the early gardens at Kew.