Retford, Kate (2000) Family and familiarity : the domestic sphere in eighteenth-century English visual culture. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis analyses eighteenth-century portraiture within the context of
'norms' propagated in contemporary prescriptive and fictional literature, 'norms' which
overlay a heterogeneous reality. The aspirant portraitist had to accord with the desire
of sitters to be depicted in a manner that would receive approbation. Thus, disparate
relationships were pictorially subsumed within affectionate ideals that burgeoned in
the mid eighteenth century, stimulated by the cult of sensibility and disseminated
through an expanding body of literature to an expanding readership. However, these
did not displace more 'traditional' concerns, but appeared alongside continuing
pictorial emphases on patriarchy, hierarchy and dynastic continuity.
The introduction outlines the historiography and methodology and provides a
detailed summary of each chapter. Chapter one examines the emergence of the
companionate marital portrait, together with pictorial condemnations of arranged and
romantic unions. Chapter two argues that this new emphasis on affection did not
displace patriarchy. Pendants continued to demarcate masculine and feminine
domains whilst double portraits emphasised those domains as complementary, but
unequal. Chapter three discusses the pictorial and literary sentimentalisation of
motherhood and argues that condemnations of female display were acknowledged in
portraits of engrossed and self-effacing mothers. Chapter four counters that the
sentimentalisation of the patriarch was limited by a continuing preoccupation with his
pre-eminence and that later images of playful children maintained earlier concerns
with age and gender hierarchies and 'futurity'. Chapter five argues that both an
emphasis on heirs and anxiety over the implications of high infant mortality for
dynastic succession remained constant. The contextualisation of portraits within the
home also reveals an emphasis on unbroken lineage. Chapter six examines satires of
transgressions of ideal familial relations by members of a supposedly debauched
aristocracy. However, these aristocrats sometimes countered such attacks with
portraits emphasising status and domestic virtue. The conclusion summarises the
arguments and discusses their implications for debates over class.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Portraits -- England -- History -- 18th century, Art and society -- England -- History -- 18th century, Women -- Great Britain -- Psychology -- History -- 18th century, Women in art, Families in art, Portrait painting, English -- 18th century
Official Date:	June 2000
Dates:	Date Event June 2000 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of History of Art
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hindle, Steve, 1965-; Rosenthal, Michael
Sponsors:	British Academy; Chelmsford Educational Foundation; University of Warwick
Description:	Note that this is 1 of 2 volumes. Volume 2 (illustrations) has not been digitised due to copyright restrictions.
Extent:	xxi, 380 leaves (volume 1)
Language:	eng

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