LOLcat in the 18th/19th century?

I was just cleaning up details from my last book and looked at the page for William 1st Earl of Craven. He should be distinguished from his father William the 6th Baron and his son William the 2nd Earl. I noticed something odd in his miniature, the eyes were too big.

He looks to have been a handsome enough man,though possibly painted as an "Idealized representation and not a true portrait of the idiosyncratic features of the individual" (S. Baldric). The artist used the same trick of making the eyes bigger to make him more appealing that is used for velvet paintings of cats, puppies and children. Not to mention Elvis.