Waspish Horace Walpole reached a characteristic verdict on the paintings of his contemporary Francis Hayman, dismissing them as ‘easily distinguishable by the large noses and shambling legs of his figures’. It was not intended as an endorsement.
Beginning in the second quarter of the 18th century, Hayman became an early British proponent of the conversation piece. A form of group portraiture, usually modest in scale, depicting two or more friends or family members in apparently informal tableaux, the 18th-century conversation piece was esteemed for its decorative qualities as well as its ability to capture likenesses and evidence of the relationships between sitters.
It did not aspire to display defects of the big nose and gangly leg variety. Instead, it celebrated other sorts of display – of talents, possessions, lineage, fecundity, sociability, connoisseurship: all the things likely to appeal to Georgian aristocrats and their imitators.
Without the swagger and heroic posturing of grand portraiture, the conversation piece was often domestic, even intimate: sitters depicted at their ease in their houses and gardens, accompanied by children, dogs, horses and servants, or members of clubs and societies caught off duty in a moment of decorative confraternity.
Here are six conversation pieces which capture that spirit.
In Focus: The Van Dyck portrait that shows Charles I as monarch, connoisseur and proud father
Lilias Wigan takes a detailed look at Van Dyck's Greate Peece, one of the highlights of the Royal Academy's stunning
Credit: Michael Armitage, The Flaying of Marsyas, 2017. © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (Ben Westoby). Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube.
In Focus: Michael Armitage's image of African violence that points the finger back at the western world
Michael Armitage's The Flaying of Marsyas is the centrepiece of his exhibition in South London. Lilias Wigan examines it in
In Focus: Cézanne's brutally honest portrait of his wife, 'weary and dissatisfied', as their relationship was on the rocks
The National Portrait Gallery's exhibition of portraits by Paul Cézanne comes to an end this weekend. Lilias Wigan takes an
-
Game, set, match: 12 of the world’s most beautiful tennis courtsFrom Italy to Indonesia, when it comes to hotel amenities, a picturesque tennis court will always trump a 24-hour gym. So, before you book your next holiday, take a look at our pick of the 12 best.
-
Five frankly enormous mansions, including one with its own private swimming lake, as seen in Country LifeSometimes bigger really is better.
