Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/johan-zoffany-620" aria-label="More by Johan Zoffany" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Johan Zoffany</a>
Bradshaw Family
Bequeathed by Ernest E. Cook through the Art Fund 1955
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
arm / arms raised
baby
boy
Bradshaw
Bradshaw, Barrington
Bradshaw, Elizabeth
Bradshaw, Lawrence
Bradshaw, Robert Haldane
Bradshaw, Thomas
children
clothing and personal items
dress
family
family
food and drink
fruit - non-specific
girl
group
groups
groups
hat, bonnet
hill
horse
kite
kite flying
landscape
leisure and pastimes
looking up
man
named individuals
objects
people
politician, Member of Parliament
politician, Secretary of the Treasury
portraits
public service
recreational activities
sitting
society
standing
toys and models
tree
trunk
weather
Wilson, Elizabeth
wind
woman
work and occupations
<p>Small-scale group portraits like this, known as ‘conversation pieces’, projected an idealised vision of family life. This picture employs a pyramidal arrangement of the figures to express the structure of the family. Thomas Bradshaw (1733–74), a senior civil servant and politician, is shown at the apex of the pyramid. His family is arranged below him. The two women are Bradshaw’s wife, Elizabeth on the right, and, on the left, probably his sister. The two oldest sons are shown at the far left and right of the group. Their position in the composition serves to associate them both with the sheltered space of the family unit, and the outside world.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
18 October 2006 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
18 October 2006 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2006-10-18
The Foundling Museum (London, UK)
2006-10-18
Reciprocal loan for Hogarth
Loan-out
16 November 2011 – 13 May 2012
2012-05-13
16 November 2011 – 13 May 2012
2012-05-13
2011-11-16
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-11-16
GBAD Family Matters
Collection based display
29 November 2012 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
1 December 2012
2012-12-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-29
Gallery 15
Collection based display
26 September 2022
26 September 2022
2022-09-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 15
Collection based display
The Bradshaw Family
support: 1339 × 1763 mm

Bequeathed by Ernest E. Cook through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1955
<p>When this picture was exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1769 as <i>A gentleman's family</i>, Horace Walpole noted in his copy of the catalogue that the sitter was 'Mr Bradshaw Secretary of the Treasury'. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> depicts the family of Thomas Bradshaw (1733-74), the private secretary to Augustus Henry Fitz-Roy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and Prime Minister after Chatham. Bradshaw, sometime Clerk at the War Office, became Secretary of the Treasury in 1768, Member of Parliament for Saltash, and Lord Commissioner in 1772. He was made a Lord of the Admiralty in 1774; however, in November of that year, suffering from financial worries, he shot himself. 

</p><p>Bradshaw's wife Elizabeth (née Wilson, died 1802), whom he married in 1757, is seated to the right. As identified by Martin Davies (Davies 1959, p.112), the two eldest boys are Bradshaw's sons Barrington (1761-1804), at left flying a kite, and Robert Haldane (1759-1835), at the far right with the pony; the other children are probably Elizabeth (1767-93) and Lawrence (1768-1853). The Bradshaws eventually had seven children. Thomas (born 1763) died young, and Augustus Hill (1769-1851) and Charlotte (1772-3) were born after this picture was made. The second woman, holding up some fruit, has been identified as Bradshaw's sister. 

</p><p>This picture is characteristic of Zoffany's compositional style, as shown by the pyramidal arrangement of the figures with Thomas Bradshaw at the apex, and by the careful use of planes in placement of both figures and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a>. Each person is engaged in an activity, resulting in an animated, if somewhat contrived, grouping. The artist's German training is evident in the painstaking depiction of costume. Set against a background of open countryside, the portrait, as Barbara Milner writes, 'presents that <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/georgian" title="Glossary definition for 'Georgian'"><span>Georgian</span></a> ideal of family life which was exemplified in the Royal Family' (Milner 1991, p.27). 

</p><p>Further reading:<br/>Martin Davies, <i>National Gallery Catalogues: The British School</i>, London 1959, pp.112-13<br/>Barbara Milner in <i>A Gift to the Nation: The Fine and Decorative Art Collections of Ernest E. Cook</i>, exhibition catalogue, Holburne Museum and Crafts Study Centre, Bath 1991, p.27, reproduced pl.III in colour<br/>John Hayes, <i>The Portrait in British Art</i>, exhibition catalogue, National Portrait Gallery, London 1991, p.106, reproduced p.107 in colour 

</p><p>Terry Riggs<br/>January 1998 <br/></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Small-scale group portraits like this, known as ‘conversation pieces’, projected an idealised vision of family life. This picture employs a pyramidal arrangement of the figures to express the structure of the family. Thomas Bradshaw (1733–74), a senior civil servant and politician, is shown at the apex of the pyramid. His family is arranged below him. The two women are Bradshaw’s wife, Elizabeth on the right, and, on the left, probably his sister. The two oldest sons are shown at the far left and right of the group. Their position in the composition serves to associate them both with the sheltered space of the family unit, and the outside world. </p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-02-23T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals arm / arms raised baby boy Bradshaw Bradshaw, Barrington Bradshaw, Elizabeth Bradshaw, Lawrence Bradshaw, Robert Haldane Bradshaw, Thomas children clothing and personal items dress family family food and drink fruit - non-specific girl group groups groups hat, bonnet hill horse kite kite flying landscape leisure and pastimes looking up man named individuals objects people politician, Member of Parliament politician, Secretary of the Treasury portraits public service recreational activities sitting society standing toys and models tree trunk weather Wilson, Elizabeth wind woman work and occupations