The Home Beautiful: A Dinner Party, 1725

A Dinner Party
Marcellus Laroon, the Younger
French, 1725
First recorded in The Royal Collection, 1818,
but probably purchased by King George I earlier.
Crown Copyright
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Elegance and opulence weren’t just the stuff of our Victorian and Edwardian forebears. No. In fact, many a historical figure from many a century was known to “glitz it up” quite often. In this 1725 painting by French painter Marcellus Laroon, the Younger, we see the conclusion of a posh dinner party. Many have conjectured as to the identities of the subjects, but I think that’s irrelevant. What is important is the representation of the antics of an upper class household.


The dinner guests have retired from the main dining room after consuming a meal which probably consisted of a lot of peculiarly stuffed birds, gammon and organ meats. They’ve moved on to the fashionable “Banquet House.” It was in the banquet house that ladies and gentlemen enjoyed sweets, wine and succulent cheeses. Take a look at the background. It would appear that one of the gardeners is trying to convince a servant to slip him a little wine. It’s just a lovely, fun painting and it makes me smile.

During this time period, the French often complained of the blandness of the English, stating that “in England one can hardly tell the servants from the masters” because they considered British fashions to be too reserved. I see nothing at all reserved about this scene. Considering we presently live in a world in which people wear shorts to the opera, I think this scene is all sorts of opulent.

Painting of the Day: A Family of Three at Tea, 1727

A Family of Three at Tea
Richard Collins, 1727
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This type of painting is what is termed as a “conversation piece,” essentially meaning relaxed portraits of family groups or gatherings of friends. Wealthy families commissioned such conversation pieces to show their family and friends in their finest clothes and jewels along with the most valuable possessions of the household. In short, they were a way of recording the sitters’ importance and social status.


This painting is the work of Richard Collins and was painted either in Lincolnshire or Leicestershire. Collins (active 1726-1732) was trained under the Swedish-born, London-based portrait painter Michael Dahl (born about 1659; died 1743), and worked as a portrait painter in both Leicester and Lincolnshire.

The canvas we see here is one of two paintings by Collins of the same family drinking tea. The other is called “The Tea Party is at Goldsmiths' Hall, London.” The identities of the sitters aren’t known, but obviously, they are a highly fashionable family. They are depicted, as the V&A says, “sitting around a tea table, obviously proud of their up-to-date and valuable silver and porcelain, and also of their knowledge of the correct manner of taking tea. The tea equipage is a typical one of the first half of the 18th century. It includes a sugar dish, a tea canister, sugar tongs, a hot-water jug, a spoon boat with teaspoons, a slop bowl and a teapot with a lamp beneath it to keep the contents hot.”

Unfolding Pictures: The Birdcage Fan, 1780-1790

Hand Fan
Painted by Johannes Sulzer
Switzerland, 1780-1790
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The leaves of hand fans provided yet another surface to introduce popular artistic themes to the public. Hand-painted fans were treated with as much seriousness as any oil painting, and fan painters enjoyed the opportunity to present contemporary compositions in a different format.

One of the most exuberant fan painters of the Eighteenth Century was Swiss artist Johannes Sulzer (1748-1794) who, unlike most of his contemporaries, took to signing his fans. Above, we see a good example of Sulzer’s work—painted during a time when “Conversation Pieces” were quite the fashion. He’s given us such an intimate scene, depicting a couple engaged in a conversation with a young woman knitting. The reverse of the fan shows another popular late Eighteenth Century subject—an elegant house with a formal garden.

Sulzer has included images of two bird cages—one open and the other closed--flanking the miniature painting of the grand country house. These bird cages were a favorite subject for the artist and, more often than not, appear somewhere on his fans—acting almost as a signature of their own. 

Sulzer painted this fan of gouache on paper in Switzerland between 1780 and 1790. The whole is given shimmer with a silver wash. It is signed, “Peint & monté par J. Sulzer au Rossingnol à Winterthur.”

The Home Beautiful: A Dinner Party, 1725

A Dinner Party
Marcellus Laroon, the Younger
French, 1725
First recorded in The Royal Collection, 1818,
but probably purchased by King George I earlier.
Crown Copyright
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Elegance and opulence weren’t just the stuff of our Victorian and Edwardian forebears. No. In fact, many a historical figure from many a century was known to “glitz it up” quite often. In this 1725 painting by French painter Marcellus Laroon, the Younger, we see the conclusion of a posh dinner party. Many have conjectured as to the identities of the subjects, but I think that’s irrelevant. What is important is the representation of the antics of an upper class household.


The dinner guests have retired from the main dining room after consuming a meal which probably consisted of a lot of peculiarly stuffed birds, gammon and organ meats. They’ve moved on to the fashionable “Banquet House.” It was in the banquet house that ladies and gentlemen enjoyed sweets, wine and succulent cheeses. Take a look at the background. It would appear that one of the gardeners is trying to convince a servant to slip him a little wine. It’s just a lovely, fun painting and it makes me smile.

During this time period, the French often complained of the blandness of the English, stating that “in England one can hardly tell the servants from the masters” because they considered British fashions to be too reserved. I see nothing at all reserved about this scene. Considering we presently live in a world in which people wear shorts to the opera, I think this scene is all sorts of opulent.

Unfolding Pictures: The Birdcage Fan, 1780-1790

Hand Fan
Painted by Johannes Sulzer
Switzerland, 1780-1790
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The leaves of hand fans provided yet another surface to introduce popular artistic themes to the public. Hand-painted fans were treated with as much seriousness as any oil painting, and fan painters enjoyed the opportunity to present contemporary compositions in a different format.

One of the most exuberant fan painters of the Eighteenth Century was Swiss artist Johannes Sulzer (1748-1794) who, unlike most of his contemporaries, took to signing his fans. Above, we see a good example of Sulzer’s work—painted during a time when “Conversation Pieces” were quite the fashion. He’s given us such an intimate scene, depicting a couple engaged in a conversation with a young woman knitting. The reverse of the fan shows another popular late Eighteenth Century subject—an elegant house with a formal garden.

Sulzer has included images of two bird cages—one open and the other closed--flanking the miniature painting of the grand country house. These bird cages were a favorite subject for the artist and, more often than not, appear somewhere on his fans—acting almost as a signature of their own. 

Sulzer painted this fan of gouache on paper in Switzerland between 1780 and 1790. The whole is given shimmer with a silver wash. It is signed, “Peint & monté par J. Sulzer au Rossingnol à Winterthur.”

Painting of the Day: A Family of Three at Tea, 1727

A Family of Three at Tea
Richard Collins, 1727
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This type of painting is what is termed as a “conversation piece,” essentially meaning  relaxed portraits of family groups or gatherings of friends.  Wealthy families commissioned such conversation pieces to show their family and friends in their finest clothes and jewels along with the most valuable possessions of the household.  In short, they were a way of recording the sitters’ importance and social status.

This painting is the work of Richard Collins and was painted either in Lincolnshire or Leicestershire.  Collins (active 1726-1732) was trained under the Swedish-born, London-based portrait painter Michael Dahl (born about 1659; died 1743), and worked as a portrait painter in both Leicester and Lincolnshire.

The canvas we see here is one of two paintings by Collins of the same family drinking tea.  The other is called “The Tea Party is at Goldsmiths' Hall, London.”  The identities of the sitters aren’t known, but obviously, they are a highly fashionable family.  They are depicted, as the V&A says, “sitting around a tea table, obviously proud of their up-to-date and valuable silver and porcelain, and also of their knowledge of the correct manner of taking tea. The tea equipage is a typical one of the first half of the 18th century. It includes a sugar dish, a tea canister, sugar tongs, a hot-water jug, a spoon boat with teaspoons, a slop bowl and a teapot with a lamp beneath it to keep the contents hot.”