Large English Silk and Wool Portrait of Mother & Her Four Children, After John Hoppner r.A.

Details

Description

The Hoppner Legacy: Silk and Wool Portrait of a Mother and Children

Object: Portrait Picture, A Mother and Her Four … Read more The Hoppner Legacy: Silk and Wool Portrait of a Mother and Children

Object: Portrait Picture, A Mother and Her Four Children Based on Artwork by: John Hoppner, R.A. (1758–1810)
Origin: British Date: Early 19th Century
Medium: Silk and Wool Needlework (Needle Painting or Silk Embroidery) over painted sky background; oil paint used for faces and hands.

This remarkable textile picture is a faithful copy of a composition by the famous late $18^{th}$-century portraitist, John Hoppner. It is a fine example of needle painting, a popular amateur and professional craft of the period, executed in silk floss and worsted wool yarn over a silk-on-linen ground. The technique blends painting and embroidery, using oil paint for the delicate details of the faces and hands, while the rest of the scene—the clothing, drapery, and landscape—is rendered in intricate silk and wool stitchery.

Visual Analysis and Composition
The composition centers on a tall female figure dressed in a high-waisted, white Empire-style dress and wearing a turban. She stands serenely by two classical columns wrapped in a wide red fabric, with branches of a large leafy tree filling the background.

The portrait is organized around her four children, whom Hoppner specialized in painting:
• The Girls: The youngest child is seated on the ground, playing with a red shoe near a tambourine, while her elder sister stands behind her. Both wear muslin dresses characteristic of the elegant, high-waisted Empire style of the period.
The Boys: The two brothers stand to the right, prominently displaying the newly fashionable skeleton suit. They wear high-waisted trousers buttoned onto a jacket, paired with red shirts and wide, white frilly collars. This outfit, though intended for comfort, was a distinct shift towards clothing designed specifically for children, popularized from the $1780s onward.

Historical Context: Hoppner and Fashion
John Hoppner, R.A. (1758–1810) was a prominent rival of Thomas Lawrence, specializing in painting the most fashionable women and children of the British elite. This picture derives its composition from a mezzotint after a Hoppner painting made in the 1790s, making the textile portrait itself an early 19-century tribute to his work. Hoppner’s skill in capturing the tender relationship between mother and children made his compositions highly popular, leading to their wide reproduction in prints and domestic crafts like this woolwork.

The picture is a remarkable document of the shift in children's wear during the late Georgian and Regency eras. Before the 1780s, children simply wore miniature versions of adult clothing. The skeleton suit worn by the boys marks the beginning of modern children's fashion—a style that, while perhaps hot and easily soiled as noted by critics of the time, was universally popular for nearly fifty years.

Details and References

Dimensions: 31 inches high x 24 1/2 inches wide (78.74 cm high x 62.23 cm wide).
Materials: Silk over linen fabric ground, silk floss, worsted wool yarn, Merino wool yarn, and oil paint.

References: The original design source is a known mezzotint after a John Hoppner R.A. painting, a subject type frequently discussed in texts on 18th-century portraiture and fashion history.

Bibliography
Hoppner, John. Oriental Tales (London: J. Hatchard, 1805).
Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of national biography, Volume 27 (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891).
Cole, Timothy. Old English Masters (New York: The Century Co., 1902) p. 91 ff.
Skipton, H. P. K. John Hoppner (Methuen & Co, 1905)
McKay, William & Roberts, William. John Hoppner (John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1909)

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