This painting, which remained in the collection of the Fagan family at least until the 1950s, is identified in The Green Dragoon as "Cornet Tarleton" by Allan Ramsay. The uniform, however, appears to be anachronistic for the time of Banastre's enlistment in the King's Dragoon Guards, and the date would preclude it being by Ramsay. In 1773, Ramsay badly injured his arm in a fall which ended his career as a portrait painter. Tarleton joined the army on April 20, 1775, so there is no possibility that "Cornet Tarleton" could have been painted by Ramsay after his enlistment.

Christopher Bryant has been doing some rsearch into known images of Ban Tarleton, in an attempt to confirm the identification of a miniature in his collection. He sent me some thoughts on this painting and permission to share them:

"I, too, was not happy with the attribution of the supposed Ramsay portrait to Banastre. I know from a uniform point of view that it could almost certainly not have been of Banastre for a few reasons --

• The date of the uniform is well before the 1768 Warrant setting down fairly specific patterns for regular army officers uniform
• The uniform depicted is for an infantry officer, c.1750 - 1760.
• The 1st KDG [i.e. King's Dragoon Guards -- Marg B.] never wore a uniform like the one in the portrait.

"Given that the portrait came down in the family, however, we have to find a better candidate for sitter. There is a clear likeness in the portrait to Banastre's mother, Jane Parker. I have looked up the Parkers and the Tarletons in Burke's Landed Gentry and cannot find any army officers among them until Banastre. However, landed gentry families were often represented in the county militia regiments, and sure enough, the Lanchashire Militia uniform conforms to the portrait -- scarlet coat, blue facings and gold lace. Jane Parker's father was Banastre Parker, whose mother was Anne Townley, sole heir of her father Thomas Townley, of Royle, Lancashire. I have an 1760 Militia List, and among the officers of the Lancashire Militia was a Lt. Col. Townley (no christian name given) and a Captain Edmund Townley. I would suggest that the portrait is of either Thomas Townley (if he was Lt. Col. of the Lancashire Militia) or Edmund Townley -- perhaps a brother of Anne Townley."

It remains a guess, but this train of supposition certainly seems more plausible than identifying the sitter as Banastre Tarleton. Hopefully, someone will fully research the history of the portrait at a future date.