The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 29, 2025

The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire

c. 1772
(German, 1733–1810)
England
oil on canvas
Unframed: 101.5 x 127 cm (39 15/16 x 50 in.); Framed: 124.5 x 149.9 x 7.6 cm (49 x 59 x 3 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2023.122
Location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

This is an idealized, not actual, room showing the sitters’ fashionable interior decorating aspirations.

Description

This type of picture, known as a conversation piece, was invented in England in the 1700s and popular for the informal way it represented families. A father and daughter, mother and son, are strategizing over the next hand in a game of cards. The family recently lost a loved one, so the parents are dressed in full mourning (black clothing), and the siblings in lesser mourning (mauve, white, and gray).
  • c. 1772-1776
    Commissioned by James Lenox Dutton (1712-1776), Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire, and by descent to his son
    1776-1929
    James Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne (1744-1820), and thence by descent to James Huntly Dutton, 6th Baron Sherborne (1873-1949)
    1929
    (Christie's London, June 28, 1929 (lot 72), where acquired for 7000 gns by Daniel Haddock Farr)
    1929-1937
    (with Daniel Haddock Farr (1876-1976), dealer, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA)
    by 1938-1996
    Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882-1948), London, and thence by descent to Peter Samuel, 4th Viscount Bearsted (1911-1996)
    1996-2001
    The Descendants of Peter Samuel, 4th Viscount Bearsted; (Sotheby's London, June 14, 2001 (lot 16), where acquired by European Private Collection)
    2001-2023
    European Private Collection
    2023-
    (Christie's Private Sale to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
  • Willoughby, L. "Sherborne House.", Connoisseur Vol. XXX (1911): Mentioned: p. 10,12
    Manners, Victoria, and George C. Williamson. John Zoffany, R.A., His Life and Works. 1735-1810. London: John Lane, 1920. Mentioned: p. 154, 233, 277
    Williamson, George C. English Conversation Pictures of the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. London: B.T. Batsford, 1931. Mentioned: p. 3, 14-15; Reproduced: pl. xl
    Sitwell, Sacheverell, Michel Sevier, and Rex Whistler. Conversation Pieces: A Survey of English Domestic Portraits and Their Painters. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1936. Mentioned: p. 24-25, 34, 36-37, 40, 43, 46-47, 94; Reproduced: pl.29
    Mann, Harrington. The Technique of Portrait Painting. London: Seeley Service & Company, 1948. Mentioned: p. 78; Reproduced: pl. 72
    Praz, Mario. Conversation Pieces; A Survey of the Informal Group Portrait in Europe and America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971. Mentioned: p. 99-100; Reproduced: fig. 60
    Paulson, Ronald. Emblem and Expression: Meaning in English Art of the Eighteenth Century. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975. Mentioned: p. 156-7
    Ward-Jackson, Peter W. Le siècle de l'élégance: la demeure anglaise au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Musée des Arts Decoratifs, 1959. Reproduced: no. 215
    Adams, William Howard. The Eye of Thomas Jefferson: [Exhibition]. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1976. Reproduced: no. 76
    Snodin, Michael. Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England : [Exhibition] the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Trefoil Books, 1984. Reproduced: no. M31
    Webster, Mary. Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 2011. Mentioned: p. 172-3; Reproduced: fig. 152
    Zoffany, Johann, Martin Postle, and Clarissa Campbell Orr. Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed. New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2011. Mentioned: p. 256; Reproduced: no. 75
    Rhode Island School of Design. Exhibition of English Eighteenth-Century Portraits. [Providence]: Rhode Island School of Design, 1932.
    Bradbury, Oliver. "One family's 'heroic age': The forgotten treasures of Dutton patronage - and remnants of lost William Kent?" The British Art Journal 14, no. 3 (2013/2014): 21-26.
    Korkow, Cory. "The Conversation Piece. Zoffany's 'The Dutton Family' debuts in the British Gallery." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 64, no. 1 (2024):28-29. Reproduced: p. 28; Mentioned: p. 28-29. archive.org
    "Looking Back to Look Forward: A Year in Highlights.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 65, no. 3 (2024): 38. Reproduced: p. 38. archive.org
  • Johann Zoffany RA: Society Observed. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven and Royal Academy, London (October 27, 2011 - June 10, 2012), London only.
    Rococo: Arts and Design in Hogarth's England. Victoria and Albert Museum, London (May 16 - September 30, 1984), no. M31.
    The Eye of Thomas Jefferson. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (June 5 - September 6, 1976), no. 76.
    Le siècle de l'élégance: la demeure anglaise au XVIIIe siècle. (February - May 1959), no. 215.
    European Masters of the Eighteenth Century. Royal Academy, London. (November 27, 1954 - February 27, 1955), no. 100.
    La Peinture Anglaise, XVIII et XIX siècles. Musée du Louvre, Paris (March-July 1938), no. 157.
    A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (June 1 - November 1 1933) no. 208.
    English Eighteenth-Century Portraits. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I. (November 12-30, 1932)
    English Conversation Pieces: Exhibition in Aid of the Royal Northern Hospital. Royal Northern Hospital, 25 Park Lane, London (March 1930), no. 59.
    Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1907), no. 143.
  • {{cite web|title=The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire|url=false|author=Johann Zoffany|year=c. 1772|access-date=29 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.122