Portraiture and the Conversation Piece

A detailed Summary of Portraiture and the Conversation Piece

Much painting had been done in England by a handful of native artists well into the eighteenth century, although it was foreign artists that had dominated the market for paintings. British artists could not form a style that was original and one they could call their own, thus they were seldom admired. In the early eighteenth century British aristocrats usually employed foreign artists to do their portraits. It was not until William Hogarth, local artwork would be noticed. He promoted distinct British traditions to his artwork and became the first native artist to be known on an international scale. He paved the way for future artists that would come to follow him. By the mid-eighteenth century it became fashionable to have paintings done by British artists, instead of foreign painters. It was not only popular, it showed that the owner of the painting had taste. Hogarth was not only noted for his portraiture, but was responsible for popularising a new form of portraiture called the conversion piece. The conversation piece was a step back from the formal portraiture, but gained widespread interest all over England. In this essay I would like to examine the two forms of artwork that were most popular during the eighteenth

Now lets move on to the conversation piece. A conversation piece can be defined as a portrait group in a domestic or landscape setting in which two or more sitters are engaged in conversation or other polite social activity. Usually, but not always, the subjects are small in scale, even when depicted in full-length. Because the paintings were smaller, they were more affordable and could be bought by a larger array of people. The conversation pieces were also very intimate and less formal. The casualness of conversation pieces brought the reality out of the paintings. Because the figures in the paintings were so small, they should be hung where people could see it up close. Although, the intimacy of the conversation piece made them very private, which placed them in a location where not everyone could view them. Hogarth pioneered the movement for conversation pieces, but he also pokes fun at the new trend in his "Before & After" piece. In these two paintings it shows a couple before, when the man is trying to court the lady, and after, when sexual acts are inferred. Hogarth jokes that appearances are not everything, as we see the couple's true intentions, and makes fun of the conversation piece by adding a narrative to the piece with sexual connotations.

Although there are many similarities between portraitures and conversation pieces, there are far more differences. First, the scales of the two are very different. The scale in the conversation piece is usually much smaller than that of portraiture, thus the conversation piece was much more affordable. More people were able to purchase conversation pieces, now other people than aristocrats and royalty could buy paintings. Also, conversation pieces usually contained more people in the painting. There are some paintings with twenty or more people in them, whereas portraiture had less people in them and tried to give more detail into each person in the painting. Probably the most significant difference between portraiture and the conversation piece is the function of the paintings. Conversation pieces are far more personal and intimate. The sitters in the painting often wore less formal clothing and their poses were more of that of a natural state. Because of this conversation pieces had more of a natural reality than that of portraiture. Also, because of the formal nature of portraiture, they were viewed more in the public sphere. Conversation pieces on the other hand were very private.

In this essay we have explored the two most popular types of art in the eighteenth century: portraiture and the conversation piece. Each unique, they tell so much of the artists that draw them, to the subjects that were drawn. We discussed many of the key artists that made them so popular, from van Dyck to Reynolds. We also examined closely the works of a very influential British painter, Thomas Gainsborough. The paintings discussed, though by the same painter, were very different in their nature. The eighteenth century was a breakthrough century for British art, without these key artists and the popularity of portraiture and the conversation piece, art in Britain may have still been left up to foreign artists.

Let us now discuss one of Gainsborough's portraitures called "Blue Boy." The boy's face is painted straight on, and his pose is very hard and straight. He looks very proud with one hand on his hat on his side and the other hand at his hip. The boy is not pretty, but he is still confident. The blue costume the boy is wearing is very bright compared to his very dark landscape background. The boy's clothing and pose give the painting a very formal atmosphere. This painting was probably hung where many people could see it, thus it was very public.

During the eighteenth century many Briti

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Approximate Word count = 2554
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts