William Hogarth

Three Ladies in a Grand Interior (‘The Broken Fan’), possibly Catherine Darnley, Duchess of Buckingham with Two Ladies

c.1736

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In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1730

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Artist: William Hogarth 1697–1764
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 652 × 667 mm
frame: 865 × 895 × 78 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2003
Reference: T11756

Display caption

This is an example of an informal group portrait known as a ‘conversation piece’. The lady dressed in black is thought to be Catherine Darnley, Countess of Buckingham. She was considered an ‘illegitimate child’ as her parents, King James II and Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, never married. Catherine had a reputation for being condescending in her high social position. She developed various rules on how to behave in her company, including not opening a fan. Hogarth satirises this, painting a dog with an open fan disrupting the calm of the scene.

Gallery label, October 2021

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