1772
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire is a 1772 unspecified by Johann Zoffany, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a family in a fancy room playing cards. The parents wear black for mourning. The kids wear lighter colors. You can see fancy furniture and paintings on the walls. It’s a *conversation piece*—group portraits were new in England then. These were meant to feel natural, not stiff like old royal portraits. Want to see more like this? Check out Johann Zoffany (German, 1733–1810).
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).
This is an idealized, not actual, room showing the sitters’ fashionable interior decorating aspirations.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Johan / Johann Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy, and India.
See the richer artist page
