Kate Retford, ‘“The Picture was my Stage”: The Theatre of the Conversation Piece’

Dr Kate Retford, Lecturer in Eighteenth and early Nineteenth-Century History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London The following images were used by Dr Retford, they have been blurred out in the film because of copyright reasons: William Hogarth, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, c.1728; William Hogarth, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, 1731, Tate Britain; William Hogarth, ‘A Performance of The Indian Emperor or The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards’, 1732-5, Private Collection; William Hogarth, ‘Ashley Cowper with his wife, Dorothy, and daughter, Theodora(?)’, 1731, Tate Britain; William Hogarth, ‘The Wollaston Family’, 1730, Leicester Arts and Museums Service; Gawen Hamilton, ‘The du Cane and Boehm Families’, 1734-5, Tate; Arthur Devis, ‘The Bacon Family’, c.1742-3, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection; Charles Philips, ‘Frederick, Prince of Wales, with members of ‘La Table Ronde’’, 1732, The Royal Collection; Gawen Hamilton, ‘A Conversation of Virtuosis at the Kings Armes’, 1734-5, NPG; Francis Hayman, ‘The Suspicious Husband’, 1747, Museum of London; Francis Hayman, ‘Jonathan Tyers and his Family’, 1740, NPG; Plate 1, François Nivelon, Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour<-em>, 1737; Arthur Devis, ‘Mr and Mrs Hill’, 1751, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection; Arthur Devis, ‘The Crewe Family’, 1743-4; Gawen Hamilton, ‘The Porten Family’, 1736; Anon., Proscenium Arch and Stage design, early eighteenth century, (British Museum) Joseph Francis Nollekens, ‘A Family Group’, 1740; Charles Philips, ‘The Finch Family’, c.1732; John Devoto, ‘Baroque’ stage design, n.d.; The Library scene from A School for Scandal<-em>, engraving, 1777; Arthur Devis, ‘Children in an Interior’, 1742-3; Arthur Devis, ‘Roger Hesketh and Family’, 1742-3;