Tour: British Conversation Pieces and Portraits of the 1700s

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Overview

Eighteenth-century British painters used the word “conversation” to describe informal group portraits as well as imaginary views of daily life, now called genre scenes. In portraiture, conversation pieces referred to pictures commissioned by families or friends to portray them sharing common activities such as hunts, meals, or musical parties.

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chronology

Captions

1.
1	Arthur Devis, Arthur Holdsworth Conversing with Thomas Taylor and Captain Stancombe by the River Dart, 1757
2	Attributed to George Knapton, A Graduate of Merton College, Oxford, c. 1754/1755
3	George Stubbs, Captain Samuel Sharpe Pocklington with His Wife, Pleasance, and possibly His Sister, Frances, 1769
4	Francis Wheatley, Family Group, c. 1775/1780
5	Joseph Wright, Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1770-1773
6	Johann Zoffany, The Lavie Children, c. 1770