Hugh Barron

The Children of George Bond of Ditchleys

1768

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

Not on display
Artist
Hugh Barron 1747–1791
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 1060 x 1397 mm
frame: 1263 x 1595 x 85 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Bequeathed by Alan Evans 1974
Reference
T01882

Display caption

George Bond, father of the seven children depicted in this portrait, was a wealthy city merchant, and an official in the East India Company. The family seems to have occupied several imposing residences, including a country house, ‘Ditchleys’ in Essex, and a Jacobean mansion in Wimbledon.In the foreground, the three older boys play cricket, flanked by their two sisters. Their two younger brothers are dressed in white frocks, as was then the custom for toddlers of either sex. The youngest boy, Essex Henry Bond, second from the left, later made his career as a commander in the navy, transporting convicts to Australia.

Gallery label, May 2007

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Catalogue entry

T01882 THE CHILDREN OF GEORGE BOND OF DITCHLEYS 1768

Inscribed ‘H Barron Pinxt 1768’ b.r.
Oil on canvas, 41 3/4×55 (106×139.7)
Bequeathed by Alan Evans to the National Gallery and transferred to the Tate Gallery 1974
Coll: ...; Warland Andrew, sold Christie's 24 July 1914(24), bought Huggins; the Hon. Frederick Wallop by 1930; by descent to Alan Evans
Exh: ?R.A. 1768(4) as ‘Young Gentlemen at Play’; Conversation Pieces, 25 Park Lane 1930 (souvenir booklet, p.7, repr.)
Lit: G. C. Williamson, English Conversation Pictures, 1931, p.24, pl. LXXII

The title is traditional, and was wrongly given in the 1931 publication as ‘The Children of George Bond of Ditchling Romford’. Nothing is known of the family, except that the Bonds lived at Ditchleys, South Weald, Essex (not very far from Romford) during the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. From title deeds at the Essex Record Office (D/DU667/8) it can be seen that George was a family name, but no details are known before 1783.

The painting is probably identical with that exhibited at the R.A. in 1768 and is one of Barron's early independent performances after leaving Reynolds' studio in 1766.

The boys are shown playing an early form of cricket.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1974-6: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1978

Conversation piece

Explore

You might like

Johan Zoffany, ‘Three Sons of John, 3rd Earl of Bute’ c.1763–4

Johan Zoffany Three Sons of John, 3rd Earl of Bute

c.1763–4
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art T07863
Johan Zoffany, ‘The Bradshaw Family’ exhibited 1769

Johan Zoffany The Bradshaw Family

exhibited 1769
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art N06261
Johan Zoffany, ‘Three Daughters of John, 3rd Earl of Bute’ c.1763–4

Johan Zoffany Three Daughters of John, 3rd Earl of Bute

c.1763–4
T07864
Francis Cotes, ‘Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half’ 1767

Francis Cotes Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half

1767
T03251
Johan Zoffany, ‘Colonel Blair with his Family and an Indian Ayah’ 1786

Johan Zoffany Colonel Blair with his Family and an Indian Ayah

1786
T12610
Stephen Slaughter, ‘The Betts Family’ c.1746

Stephen Slaughter The Betts Family

c.1746
N01982
Francis Wheatley, ‘A Family Group in a Landscape’ c.1775

Francis Wheatley A Family Group in a Landscape

c.1775
N03678
Arthur Devis, ‘The James Family’ 1751

Arthur Devis The James Family

1751
N05281
Francis Hayman, ‘Samuel Richardson, the Novelist (1684-1761), Seated, Surrounded by his Second Family’ 1740–1

Francis Hayman Samuel Richardson, the Novelist (1684-1761), Seated, Surrounded by his Second Family

1740–1
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art T12221
John Hamilton Mortimer, ‘George Thompson, his Wife and (?) his Sister-in-Law’ c.1766–8

John Hamilton Mortimer George Thompson, his Wife and (?) his Sister-in-Law

c.1766–8
N06158
Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘Sketch for ‘The 4th Duke of Marlborough and his Family’’ c.1777

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sketch for ‘The 4th Duke of Marlborough and his Family’

c.1777
N01840
Charles Gill, ‘The Lethbridge Children’ 1785

Charles Gill The Lethbridge Children

1785
T01886
Daniel Gardner, ‘The Wife and Children of John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1783-1805’ 1780

Daniel Gardner The Wife and Children of John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1783-1805

1780
N04740
Thomas Gainsborough, ‘The Baillie Family’ c.1784

Thomas Gainsborough The Baillie Family

c.1784
N00789
Philip Reinagle, ‘Members of the Carrow Abbey Hunt’ 1780

Philip Reinagle Members of the Carrow Abbey Hunt

1780
T07218