Pairs of miniatures are always a special find especially when, as here, they have come down through a family and so the sitters are named. Painted by Samuel Cotes in 1764, these portraits depict Sir William Wheler, 6th Baronet and his wife Lucy.Born in Leamington Hastings in 1726, William’s mother was a Welsh heiress and his father a Baronet so he would have enjoyed a privileged upbringing. William married Lucy Knightley in 1752. Lucy was independently wealthy having been the sole heiress of her father Giles Knightley of Woodford who died when she was just eleven years old. Despite their wealth, the pair appear down to earth and are sober in their dress. Sir William and Lucy had a large family together but only one son and one daughter survived into adulthood.Lucy died at Bath in 1791 having presumably travelled there to benefit from the spa waters. Sadly their only son died a few years later in 1798 so when Sir William died the following year, aged 72, his fortune passed to hi...