The evidence of the conversation piece: Thomas Bardwell's The Broke and Bowes Families (1740)
Retford, Kate (2010) The evidence of the conversation piece: Thomas Bardwell's The Broke and Bowes Families (1740). Cultural and Social History 7 (4), pp. 493-510. ISSN 1478-0038.
Abstract
The picture discussed apparently represents a 'snapshot' of eighteenth-century family life. However, it is argued in this article that it is problematic to approach such visual material as if it can render direct evidence of a past, historical reality. This is not simply because art may distort or misrepresent its subject matter. Such an approach is also in danger of ignoring the potential evidence embodied in the representation itself - in this case, both a highly self-conscious 'display' of modern life and an historically meaningful act of artistic prowess.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Conversation piece, visuality, mediation, portraiture, everyday life |
| School: | School of Arts > History of Art |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Gender and Sexuality, Birkbeck (BiGS), Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for (BISR) |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 13 May 2011 10:47 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Dec 2016 11:56 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/3276 |
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