How many times have you noticed the words “portrait of the artist’s mother” next to a painting on a gallery trip?
Families have a tendency to pop up in artworks for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's just because family make for convenient subjects (models can be pricey), but for many it's a labour of love.
This was almost certainly the case for Thomas Gainsborough, whose paintings of his family are the subject of the exhibition Gainsborough’s Family Album at the National Portrait Gallery, which opens this month.
In the spirit of familial love, take a look at how famous artists have pictured their nearest and dearest in artwork throughout the centuries.
Thomas Gainsborough, Mary and Margaret Gainsborough, the Artist’s Daughters, Chasing a Butterfly, 1756
Let’s start with the man of the moment. The in-demand 18th century society portraitist managed to make time to paint more than a dozen paintings of his daughters and more of his wife, despite having a clientele that counted kings and queens. This painting shows his two daughters, Mary and Margaret, as children chasing a butterfly, and is one of the 12 surviving portraits of them by Gainsborough, all of which will be brought together in the National Portrait Gallery.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix, 1864-70
Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a passionate relationship with his muse, fellow artist and poet Elizabeth Siddal. They married in 1860, but Elizabeth passed away just two years later from a laudanum overdose. Heartbroken, Rossetti made this painting named after Beatrice Portinari, the unrequited love of 13th century poet Dante who died young and inspired his poem Vita Nuova. It is, in fact, a portrait of flame-haired Siddal, who he paints in a glowing haze surrounded by shadow. This painting is currently on display at Tate Britain.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, A Young man, perhaps the Artist’s Son Titus, 1668
This painting by Dutch great Rembrandt in the Dulwich Picture Gallery collection was initially thought to be a portrait of another artist, Philips Wouwerman. This theory was, however, debunked when experts realised that he was about twenty years too old. Some still think this might be a portrait of a scholar, but the figure has traditionally been identified as Titus, Rembrandt’s son. Rembrandt and his wife Saskia had four children, but Titus was the only child to survive into adulthood, and Rembrandt made multiple paintings of him at different stages of his life.
Chantal Joffe, Self-Portrait with Esme in St Leonards, 2012
Contemporary painter Chantal Joffe makes her family her prime subject, examining through them how familial relationships develop throughout stages of life. Joffe focuses particularly on women and children and, in this two and a half metre tall painting, she shows herself with her young daughter Esme. Esme features frequently in her paintings, Joffe having begun chronicling their relationship from her pregnancy onwards.
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Portrait of Elena Carafa, about 1875
Impressionist painter Degas may be better known for his paintings of ballet dancers, but he turned his paintbrush to his relatives in a time of family sadness. In 1875, the Parisian painter travelled to Naples for the funeral of his uncle, visiting his aunt Stefanina, the Duchess Montejasi-Cicerale, and his cousins Camilla and Elena. It is thought that this painting, in the collection of the National Gallery, was painted during this trip.
Pablo Picasso, The Daughter of the Artist at Two-and-a-half Years with a Boat, 1938
Picasso’s love life was complicated to say the least. He married twice and had four children by three women (two of which he didn’t marry), and was thought to have had many other mistresses besides. Maya, his second child, was born from his long-running affair with Marie Therese Walter, who acted as his muse during the 1930s. Picasso paused his painting of epic anti-war work Guernica to paint this portrait of toddler Maya, perhaps finding relief in the pleasant subject matter and colourful brushwork.
Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, 1912
Vanessa Bell may not be a household name, but the subject of this portrait certainly is. In 1912, Bell painted this portrait of her sister, acclaimed novelist Virginia Woolf. Painted before her marriage to Leonard Woolf, this work shows Virginia curled up in an armchair, knitting. Together, both Virginia and Vanessa were central figures in the Edwardian arts collective known as the Bloomsbury group, many of whom were connected by blood or by marriage.
Edward Burne-Jones, Portrait of Georgiana Burne-Jones, 1883
This painting of Edward Burne-Jones’s wife, Georgiana, and their two children is currently on show in the exhibition dedicated to the Pre-Raphaelite artist at Tate Britain. Their marriage was long, but not without trouble. Burne-Jones had an affair with his artist’s model, Greek-born Maria Zambaco, for whom Burne-Jones almost left Georgiana. When he decided to stay in the marriage, Zambaco attempted suicide by throwing herself in a canal. During this tumultuous time, Georgiana herself is thought to have grown close to designer William Morris.
Lucian Freud, Girl with a White Dog, 1950-1
This portrait by British figurative painter is of his first wife, Kitty Garman, the daughter of sculptor Jacob Epstein. She is pregnant in this image, reclining tensely on a bed, her breast exposed, the couple’s dog considerably more relaxed by her feet. The couple would divorce about a year after this painting was made, shortly after the birth of their second daughter. Freud’s portraits are famed for being uncomfortable and psychologically charged.
Gillian Wearing, Self Portrait as my Mother Jean Gregory, 2003
This portrait of Gillian Wearing’s mother isn’t exactly what it seems. The black and white photograph of a woman with coiffed hair appears to be straight out of the sixties – it is, in fact, a contemporary portrait of Gillian Wearing herself, her face clad in prosthetics to make her look like her mother. Wearing has made many artworks using this process, and her photographic project Album also includes Wearing donning the guise of her sister and father.
William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug, 1745
Not all family members are human. William Hogarth and his wife Jane Thornhill had no children, but they fostered foundling children and Hogarth was one of the founding governors of the Foundling Hospital in London, the first ever children’s charity in the UK. Hogarth initially started this work as a formal self portrait, before switching to more formal dress and including his pet pug – amusingly called Trump – who Hogarth felt represented key parts of his character.
