Portrait of John, Lord Mountstuart, later 4th Earl and 1st Marquess of Bute

John Stuart, Lord Mountstuart, later 4th Earl and 1st Marquess of Bute, was the son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute—the controversial Prime Minister of Great Britain who served briefly under George III in 1762–1763. Young Lord Mountstuart was on the Grand Tour when Liotard painted him in 1763—the same year his father's ministry ended—and the pastel portrait, now in the Getty Museum, captures a young British aristocrat navigating the cultural capitals of Europe. The Grand Tour was the standard educational culmination for British aristocratic young men, and Liotard—famous, distinctive in his Turkish dress, and the most precise portraitist in Europe—was one of the cultural encounters that made such tours memorable. The Getty's acquisition of this work reflects the California institution's comprehensive engagement with European portraiture.

Pastel on paper: a young man on the Grand Tour presents Liotard with a sitter different in character from his court ladies and mature patricians. The freshness of youth, combined with the social confidence of a young British aristocrat, creates a particular quality that Liotard captures through lighter handling of the face.