The picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds of Lady Cockburn and her children was very familiar to me (Looking again – and finding a new master, 9 March). My family is descended from Lady Cockburn, and every one of my elderly Barstow relations, including my father, had a print of it hanging on their wall. It has always been understood in my family that we were all descended from the parrot. Not that we are actually birds, but family legend has it that there were four children, but one had measles, so the parrot stood in for him. Every year or so we would be taken to the National Gallery to wave at our ancestor, the parrot. It also might explain how as a teenager I attempted to breed parrots in my bedroom.
Mary Finch (née Barstow)
Corsham, Wiltshire
