Dimensions: support: 908 x 711 mm frame: 1110 x 908 x 88 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: In Johan Zoffany's painting "Mr and Mrs Dalton and their Niece Mary de Heulle," the arrangement of the figures around the table feels very deliberate, almost staged. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a careful construction of symbols of domesticity and family lineage. Notice the niece’s act of writing, perhaps a letter, which echoes the importance of communication and social bonds. The textile on the table, the dress's lace, even the positioning of hands; all point towards a visual encoding of status and connection. What stories do you think these symbols tell? Editor: I never considered how even the placement of hands could communicate something deeper about the family dynamic. Thanks!
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/zoffany-mr-and-mrs-dalton-and-their-niece-mary-de-heulle-t01895
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This 'conversation piece' exemplifies Zoffany's abilities to create images of family life at once painstakingly naturalistic and minutely attentive to the appropriate social roles of his sitters. The sitters are Richard Dalton, antiquarian and graphic artist and librarian to George III; his wife Esther and their orphaned niece Mary de Heulle, whom the Daltons (who were childless) adopted. Zoffany depicts them as exemplary parents, Richard taking care of the girl's aesthetic and intellectual education, while Elizabeth is engaged in a suitably genteel practical 'accomplishment'. Gallery label, August 2004
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