In this portrait of George and Mary Brown and their five eldest children, Francis Wheatley has turned the conventions of the conversation piece upside down. The Browne family engage in the fashionable pursuits dictated by eighteenth-century ideals of polite behavior, but with a twist. It is Mr. Browne, Principal Clerk of the Westminster Fire Office insurance company, who serenely sketches by the lakeside, a traditionally female activity in conversation pieces. His wife, hitching up her skirt to reveal a bright pink petticoat, has confidently cast out her line and snared a catch, which her son George unhooks for her. Mrs. Browne’s confident stance—hand on hip—is a variation on the pose made famous by Anthony Van Dyck in his dashing male portraits.
Gallery label for An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)
Credit Line: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection