Family Group
c. 1775/1780
Artist, British, 1747 - 1801
Wheatley's portrait style has much in common with the traditional conversation pieces of artists such as Arthur Devis. While the figures in Wheatley's portraits are larger in proportion to the background than in Devis' works, both artists employed the same formula of presenting middle-class families engaged together in some pleasant activity, often with one member of the group looking out at the viewer.
The figures of this group are arranged in a parklike setting, silhouetted against a backdrop of dark-green foliage. Wheatley suggested the psychological relationships of the subjects through their physical arrangement in the group. Despite the difference in size, the mother and daughter are, in effect, mirror images of each other, brought together by similarity of their forms and postures. The daughter's intimate relationship with each parent balances and unifies the composition.
Wheatley portrayed sitters' faces with great sensitivity, but his artistic talents are best seen in drapery and costume details. Moving easily from broad, suggestive brushstrokes to ones that are fine and precise, he achieved a variety of techniques that stimulate and delight the eye.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/british-paintings-16th-19th-centuries.pdf
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 91.7 x 71.4 cm (36 1/8 x 28 1/8 in.)
framed: 113.3 x 92.7 x 6.6 cm (44 5/8 x 36 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.) -
Accession
1983.1.43
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Lady Sarah Spencer, sixth daughter of John, 7th duke of Marlborough, by 1891.[1] Mrs. Boyle; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 July 1894, no. 98, as by Zoffany);[2] (P. & D. Colnaghi, London). Lady Grace Alexander Lister;[3] (sale, Sotheby's, London, 24 February 1960, no. 122, as by Zoffany); purchased by (P. & D. Colnaghi, London) for Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1983 to NGA.
[1] Per Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1891, no. 17, as by Zoffany.
[2] The Getty Provenance Index, in a letter of 9 June 1988 (in NGA curatorial files), provides the name of the consignor at the 1894 sale, taken from Christie's records.
[2] The Getty Provenance Index, citing Colnaghi records, lists an additional owner, William Cleverly Alexander [d. 1916] of London and Heathfield, Sussex, as purchaser from Colnaghi's in 1894, followed by Lady Grace Alexander Lister of London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, "daughter of W.C. Alexander," who acquired the painting "presumably [as a] gift or by inheritance" from her father. She married Col. Sir William Tindall Lister in 1894. John Hayes' suggestion that she was perhaps the widow of Sir Frederick Spencer Lister, published in the 1992 NGA systematic catalogue of the British paintings, was in error.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1891
Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1891, no. 17, as by Zoffany.
1963
Painting in England 1700-1850, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1963, no. 265, repro., pl. 206.
1964
Painting in England 1700-1850: from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1964-1965, no. 221 (souvenir, 78, repro.).
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist
1999
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.
Bibliography
1970
Webster, Mary. Francis Wheatley. London, 1970: 25-27, fig. 30, 120 (no. 10).
1983
Ribeiro, Aileen. A Visual History of English Costume: The Eighteenth Century. London and New York, 1983: 100, repro. 101.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 436, repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 322-323, color repro. 323.
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 146, repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20178679