The Hoppner Children

1791

John Hoppner

Artist, British, 1758 - 1810

John Hoppner

Attributed to

The image shows three children in a natural setting. The child on the right is standing and is visible from head to toe, while the two children on the left are seated in the grass. The standing child is positioned slightly turned to the side, with arms folded across the chest. They have light brown, wavy hair that falls around their face and a face with soft features and light complexion. This child is dressed in a russet-colored outfit with a ruffled white collar, white socks, and dark shoes. The seated child on the left faces toward the standing child and has long, tousled light brown hair and has a fair complexion. They are bare-skinned and sitting on a white cloth draped over the grass. The other seated child, sitting in between the other two and facing away from the viewer, wears a light garment partially draped over their shoulders and has similarly light brown, wavy hair. The background includes trees with fall-colored foliage, a landscape with a stream running beside the children, and distant, cloudy skies.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 152.5 x 127 cm (60 1/16 x 50 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.9.35

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist's wife [d. 1827]; bequeathed to her eldest son, Catherine Hampden Hoppner; bequeathed to his brother, Richard Belgrave Hoppner [d. 1872]; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25 March 1893, no. 358, as The Hoppner Children); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); sold to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[1] purchased 1893 by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] M. Knoedler & Co. stock books, recorded by The Getty Provenance Index.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1791

  • Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1791, no. 151, as Portraits of Children.

1881

  • L'Art Rétrospectif, Palais de Versailles, 1881, no. 861.

Bibliography

1909

  • McKay, William and William Roberts. John Hoppner, R.A. London, 1909: 127-128, 316, 336, repro. opp. 130; Supplement, 1914.

1915

  • Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro.

1923

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.

1931

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 18, repro.

1935

  • Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 233, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 233, repro.).

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 5.

1948

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 91, repro.

1960

  • Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 18, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 320, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 70.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 61, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 178, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 519, color repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 365, no. 513, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 207, repro.

1991

  • Wilson, John Human. "The Life and Art of John Hoppner (1758-1810)." Ph.D. diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 1991.

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: 130-133, repro. 133.

Wikidata ID

Q20179899

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