A pen and ink drawing of three women, one gesturing to her right. Signed on the border: Caroline Spencer 1782.

This drawing is one of several sheets by the Spencer sisters, Caroline, Elizabeth and Georgiana, daughters of the 4th Duke of Marlborough, which were apparently in the possession of Queen Charlotte. Several of the drawings are copies after Guercino. By the eighteenth century, copying the drawings of Old Masters was considered to be a suitably genteel recreation for ladies, revealing accomplishment and application at the same time as a modest deference to ‘real’ artists. The Royal Collection also contains copies of drawings by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta by George III's daughters, who received tuition from drawing masters who were amongst the best artists of the day, and had the resources of an extraordinarily rich collection from which to copy. The copies by the Spencer daughters must have been taken from Bartolozzi's prints after Guercino's drawings in the Royal Collection, rather than the original drawings themselves. The original Guercino drawing (RCIN 902555) was etched by Bartolozzi in reverse, and his print is in the same direction as the Spencer drawing. The Guercino drawing is in red chalk and shows another woman and child in addition to the three figures shown here.