Peter Darnell Muilman, Charles Crokatt and William Keable in a Landscape

On the left of the painting is the seated Charles Crokatt (1730–96), William Keable (1714/5?–74), seated in the middle playing the flute, and Peter Darnell Muilman (1730–66) standing on the right. William Keable attended St. Martin's Lane Academy during the 1740s at the same time of Gainsborough and probably shared a studio with him in London. He may have recommended Gainsborough for this commission. Charles Crokatt married Anna Muilman, Peter's sister, around the time that the portrait was painted, which may have been the occasion of the commission. Although the facial features and stiff lower legs are reminiscent of Gainsborough’s mentor Francis Hayman (1707/8–76), there is an elegance in the positioning of the figures, particularly Keable who owes much to Gainsborough’s other early mentor Hubert-François Bourguignon, known as "Gravelot" (1699–1773), and is reminiscent of one of his fashion plates.

Purchased jointly with Tate, London with grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and an anonymous donation given through the National Art Collections Fund, the Friends of the Tate Gallery, and the Gainsborough's House Society Development Trust, July 1993.