The painting is reproduced as plates 85-86 of Reynolds, by Ellis Waterhouse (Phaidon press, London, 1973). From these two plates, several details are evident to suggest that St. Leger is indeed an officer of the 55th.

In the painting the coat is scarlet, the lapels and collar are very dark and in fact appear to be black. The facing color of the 55th is Kendal Green, which is an almost black shade of green (the Scottish United Services Museum in Edinburgh has an original swatch). The details of the uniform are consistent with the Royal Warrant of 1768. The buttonholes of the coat are laced with a narrow gold braid, the texture of which is plainly visible in the detail (plate 85). This is consistent with both the inspection returns of the 55th, which specify narrow gold braid, and two ca. 1790 engravings of officers of the 55th in the regimental museum in Carlisle.

The buttons of the coat appear to be plain, with no design or insignia evident. The entire portrait is 240 X147 cm (94.5 X 58 inches) and the figure is approximately life-size at six feet tall. It seems unlikely that the detail of the buttons was too fine for Reynolds to replicate -- especially when the even finer detail of the lace is clearly evident. It is very likely that Reynolds, and in fact St. Leger himself, had no idea what the officer's buttons of the regiment looked like -- the 55th being in America at the time the protrait was done -- and both the artist and the sitter presumably being several thousand miles away in England. My hunch is that Reynolds left the buttons plain, rather than "guess" at their design -- or he simply didn't care what they looked like.

St. Leger is pictured as an officer of the grenadier company -- evident in that his coat has two gold lapels and his swordbelt plate features a grenade design surmounted by a crown flanked with a "GR." There is also a nondescript brushstroke around the perimeter of the plate that may be intended to represent the name of the regiment or an engraved border design. These details raise suspicion as the Honorable Colin Lindsay was the captain of the 55th grenadier company in 1778, NOT St. Leger. It could be that when St. Leger received his commission he did not know which company he would command. As grenadiers were elite troops, it stands to reason that a captaincy of a grenadier company was more desirable, and the grenadier designations in the protrait may be wishful thinking on the part of St. Leger -- especially if the portrait was done to commemorate St. Leger's new Capatincy! The grenadier distinctions aside, I think the Reynolds portrait depicts John Hayes St. Leger, captain in the 55th Regiment of Foot in 1778.

*Ford also lists a "Hayes St. Leger" in the 63rd of foot -- a unit that was faced "dark bottle green." The portrait could be of an officer of the 63rd, but that regiment's designations were supposed to be silver, not gold as is shown in the Reynolds painting.