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This fine conversation piece dates from the early 1730s, a period which saw Hamilton producing a number of group portraits which, at their best, can rival his contemporary William Hogarth. The identity of the family remains uncertain1, however the provenance of the portrait would suggest that the sitters are members of the Thompson family of Kirby Hall in Yorkshire. The sitters would appear to be a father (seated) who is being shown a drawing by a young man who may well be his son, perhaps recently returned from the Grand Tour, since the drawing’s apparent subject and blue paper would suggest that it is by an Italian Old Master. The figure to the side of the seated gentleman may well have been the youth’s companion on his travels. The other figures would appear to be the man’s wife, his or her father and a late-born son.

Gawen Hamilton was born in Hamilton in the west of Scotland and settled in London in around 1726. His conversation pieces were greatly admired by George Vertue, who wrote on the artist’s death in 1737 that ''it was the opinion of many Artists… that he had some peculiar excellence where he outdid Mr Hogarth in colouring and easy graceful likeness.'' Amongst his important patrons were Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford and Edward Harley 3rd Earl of Oxford. In 1734 he painted his famous Conversation of Virtuosis at the Kings Arms (National Portrait Gallery, London) which included many of the most celebrated artists of the time. The attribution of this portrait to Hamilton was first suggested by R. B. Beckett, who had initially included it as by Hogarth in the first edition of his 1947 monograph. The error is an excusable one, as in the feel for paint, the harmony and variety of colours throughout the composition and in the serpentine line formed by the heads of the figures as the painting is read from left to right it is plainly the equal of Hogarth.

1. Traditionally the sitters have been identified as Sir James Thornhill and his family with his uncle and patron Dr Sydenham. However, both the ages of the sitters and their known portraits make this unlikely.