Maurice and Anthony Ashley-Cooper
by CLOSTERMAN, John, Oil on canvas, 243 x 171 cm
Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) was an English philosopher who profoundly influenced 18th-century thought in Britain, France, and Germany. Maurice Ashley-Cooper (1675-1726), a classical scholar, was his younger brother. The double portrait represents the brothers mutual interest in moral philosophy,