Wolverhampton Art Gallery (OP 784). Acquired in 1983.

The Lees were a wealthy Staffordshire family who lived at Coton Hall near Bridgnorth. The painting may have been commissioned to mark the departure of Lancelot Lee to oversee family investments in the East Indies. The family's history demonstrates the connections between English landed wealth in the Midlands and the wider world. Landowners participated in the creation of Britain's 18th century mercantile and political empire in the East Indies and the picture provides a visual reference to this connection. A branch of the Lee family also contributed to the empire’s first colonial revolution. Lees moved to America in the 16th century and Thomas Lee became President of the Colony of Virginia in the mid 18th century. His son Richard was one of the signatories of the Declaration of the Independence. Among their descendants was General Robert Lee who commanded the Confederate forces in the American Civil War.

In the painting by Edward Bird, Isabella Lee (fourth and youngest daughter of Sir Henry Gough of Perry Barr) is pictured as a proud mother. She married Eldred Lancelot Lee at St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton in 1713. She was 23, and he was 62. He died before the painting was commissioned, but he was included in the scene as a framed oval portrait on the wall. Isabella Lee is holding a squirrel, which is the family crest. She is surrounded by her 10 children. The eldest daughter, also Isabella, shows her status by wearing the family jewels. Thomas, a future Oxford student, is holding a zoological book illustrating parrots common in the East. Behind them are Sarah and Margaret. Dorothy presents her brother Lancelot, the heir to the estate. To the right of them is Mary. Harry leads two hunting dogs, traditional payment to the King. Leaning against her mother is Elizabeth, the youngest daughter. Matilda sits on the floor, at her mother's knees. Another daughter Catherine who died in infancy is shown as a cherub in the top right hand corner.

Joseph Highmore was trained as a lawyer, but gave up the law to become a full-time artist. In 1714 he became a pupil of the famous court portrait painter Godfrey Kneller.
Highmore was able to complete a face in one sitting, and so he became a popular portrait painter and was appointed to the Royal family. Joseph Highmore and the Lees remained connected, because he painted the members of the family several times. In the collection of Wolverhampton Art Gallery there are two more portraits: "Portrait of Elizabeth Lee" (1755) and "Portrait of Isabella Lee with her Grandson William Waller" (1759).