Samuel Taunton as a Child

In western culture the colours blue and pink are often used to indicate gender, especially for babies: blue for boys and pink for girls. Yet meanings can change over time. Just 100 years ago blue was thought more dainty and feminine, whereas pink was the stronger colour and so more appropriate for boys.

Samuel and his family

RAMM cares for matching portraits of Samuel (born 1749) and his brother Thomas (1745-1828). A difficult to read note on the back gives us a clue to find out who they were, ‘Sons of Captain Taunton of Purzebrook House Axminster’.

The Taunton family originally came from Bridport and were wealthy merchants. The boys’ father, also called Samuel, was a land agent for the Arundell family in connection with their estates at Lanherne and Trerice in Cornwall. In the 1740s he moved from Bridport to Axminster with his wife and family. There is no evidence he was a military or naval captain.

Thomas and Samuel had five sisters, Dorothy, Mary, Frances, Ann and Elizabeth.

Information that accompanied the paintings when they came to RAMM in 1910 states that Thomas and Samuel ‘died young, but not before they had achieved fame in the field of science.” So far, no evidence has been found to support either of these statements.

Thomas, qualified as an attorney. In 1804 he was involved in a major lawsuit surrounding the financial difficulties of the Arundell family. Thomas’s wife Margaret and three sons all pre-deceased him. They also had a daughter, Teresa.

One of his sons, Samuel, was a Captain in the South Devon militia, perhaps the mention of ‘Captain’ on the inscription is a result of later confusion between father, son and grandson.

Visual description: An ovular portrait of a young boy with fair hair underneath a white bonnet. He is wearing a white gown with a pink sash around his waist. He is looking out at the view. His body is angled slightly to the left, but his head is turned forward.

The second ovular portrait, in the same style, shows a slightly older boy with shoulder length brown hair. He poses in a similar way, though his body is angled to the left. He is also dressed in white, with a blue sash around his waist.

Both portraits have mottled blue-grey backgrounds.