The John Bacon family

Devis, Arthur (1712-1787)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1742-1743

Height:

76.2 cm  (30 in.)

Width:

131.1 cm  (51 5/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

This family portrait is presented within an elaborate interior setting, with perspective into a room beyond, paintings and reliefs on the walls, a fireplace, and various scientific instruments. The family, consisting of two parents and four children, is shown with one boy holding a flute and a page of music, a girl holding what appears to be a broadside song sheet, and the remaining boy and girl building a house with playing cards.

Iconclass

41A2
interior of the house
42B71
family life at home
42B74
family group, especially parents with their child(ren)
48C751
one person with musical instrument, not playing

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Transverse flute [4093]

Musical works

illegible music notation

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

D'Oench, Ellen G. Arthur Devis (1712-1787): Master of the Georgian conversation piece (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1982) 57, 272-273, no. 45.



D'Oench, Ellen G. The conversation piece: Arthur Devis & his contemporaries (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 1980) 45-46, 81, cat. no. 6, AD lst no. 7, pl. no. 6.

Notes

See museum website for extended bibliography.

RIdIM record id

6231