First he drew her looking straight at him watching him arrange his paints. Then he began to make sketches of her in different positions, but he liked her so much in all, that he could not decide which one to use. Finally, he thought of painting them all in one picture. Then, as little Frances looked so lovely and so like an angel, he decided to add the wings and clouds and call his picture "Angels' Heads."
You see at that time, not having any photographers, no one thought of showing a person in different positions all in one picture as we do nowadays. People were very glad then to have one good picture of their friends.
Imagine how pleased and delighted Lord and Lady Gordon must have been with these five pictures instead of one, and all so like their little girl! The angel heads seem to be floating in the clouds, their faces lighted up by the bright ray of sunlight which is reflected in the golden hair of each. For Frances Isabelle had the most beautiful golden hair and the bluest of blue eyes.
The head at the lower left-hand side of the picture is serious and thoughtful, as if some hard question had to be answered. The one just above seems quiet, as if listening to the two other angels, who are singing happily. These four have quite forgotten us, but the little girl who looks straight at us seems to be right here in the room, watching us and wondering about us. A happy, healthy little girl, she looks as if she would like to run and play with us. Such a sweet, winsome face! No wonder Sir Joshua loved her very much.
People came from far and near to see this beautiful painting when it was finished. Finally, years later, Lord and Lady Gordon gave it to the city of London to hang in the National Gallery of paintings for all to see. There it still hangs, and people who go to London always look for it, and find it just as lovely as ever.
Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Of whom is this a picture? Where did she live? How did she happen to have her picture painted? Who painted it? What kind of a carriage did he have? What did he sometimes ask her to do? Why did she not go to a photographer to have her picture taken? How long did it take Sir Joshua Reynolds to paint her picture? Why did he paint so many pictures of her? Why did he call the picture "Angels' Heads"? How many faces are looking at us? Where do they seem to be? Which one is the prettiest? Did Lord and Lady Gordon like this picture?
The story of the artist. Sir Joshua Reynolds's father was a teacher in a private school, and to this school Joshua was sent as soon as he was old enough. Even when a very little boy Joshua liked to draw. He liked so well to draw that it was very hard for him to study in school. He always saw so many things to draw that he could not wait until after school, but drew them on the back of his lesson papers.
One day he drew all over his number paper, and when he handed it in, his father could not read the numbers on account of the drawing. His father was disappointed because his son's paper did not look so neat as the other boys', and so he wrote at the top of the paper, "Done by Joshua out of pure idleness."
Joshua had five brothers and sisters who liked to draw just as well as he did, and who could all draw very much better than he could.
It took so much paper and so many pencils for all his children, that finally the father told them they might draw on the walls of the halls. These walls had been whitewashed and the children used burnt sticks for pencils.