The copper cuirass

Admiring Sir John’s fine suit of armour leads me to take another look at his son’s breastplate. Sir Andrew’s appears to consist of overlapping copper scales, which begs the question of why he’s not wearing his granddad’s armour? Of course, it won’t have been in fashion and he was probably too big for it. I assume it had been sold to help pay off debts. The copper breastplate has a theatrical air, in keeping with Sir Andrew’s huge wig and painted smile, and may have been a studio prop. Scotland was reeling from the collapse of the South Sea Bubble, and the Hanoverian army was still engaging with Jacobite forces, after the 1715 uprising. The portrait is dated 1721, and marks his accession to the baronetcy. It is also the year Sir Andrew died, presumably as one of the many victims of the plague; 1721 saw the last and most devastating occurrence of this scourge. He left a widow and four children, two of whom survived to adulthood.