Music at home c. 1874 - 1880

John Singer Sargent made this humorous engraving called 'Music at Home' at an unknown date. It depicts a scene that challenges the conventions of musical refinement in domestic settings. The image, made in the late 19th century, uses visual codes to portray a clash between a "sensitive musical female" and three "near-sighted but very powerful amateur vocalists of the male gender". This gendered dynamic highlights the social expectations placed on women as educators of men, especially in musical settings. In this context, the culture of domestic music-making served as a space for both artistic expression and social negotiation. The humour arises from subverting the idea of harmony and the visual depiction of discord. To better understand this work, we might research the role of gender in late 19th-century social conventions, and domestic musical education.