Portrait of Sir William Langham, small three-quarter-length, in a green suit with gold trim, holding a tricorn in his left hand and a walking stick in his right, in a landscape

Sir William Langham (d.1791) took the surname of his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of William Jones of Ramsbury. E.M. Johnson records a larger version of this portrait, signed and dated 1769 (Private Collection; Francis Cotes - Complete Edition with a Critical Essay and a Catalogue, Oxford, 1976, p. 98, no. 282), painted as a pendant to a portrait of Lady Jones (National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; op. cit no. 283). This pair of portraits passed by family descent until sold by Sir Francis Burdett, 7th Bt., of Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire, at Sotheby's on 2 December 1953 (lots 40 and 50). Elizabeth Jones' sister, Mary Eleanor, married Francis Burdett (1743-1794), son of Sir Robert Burdett, 4th Bt. Cotes painted a number of portraits of the latter and his family.