‘Put up a Picture in your Room’: Art at Home in earlier 19th century Britain

The early nineteenth century saw the opening up of a fabulous array of collections of paintings to the public – both in dedicated museums and in galleries attached to grand private residences. But what about pictures in more modest homes? In this lecture, Nicholas Tromans explores the theory and practice of displaying pictorial art in middle-class domestic settings. The talk takes its cue and title from an 1834 essay by the Romantic writer Leigh Hunt. What was the purpose of the domestic picture? Who was it for? How should it be hung and in which rooms of the house? By opening up the private lives of pictures, and considering relationships between paintings, prints and urban interiors, it becomes possible to gain a new perspective on the everyday experience of art.

Nicholas Tromans in an independent art historian based in London. He has worked in universities, museums and auction houses. A specialist in nineteenth-century British art, he has written or edited books on David Wilkie, Orientalist painting, Richard Dadd, G. F. Watts and (with Susan Owens) Christina Rossetti. His most recent book, on which this lecture is based, is The Private Lives of Pictures: Art at Home in Britain 1800-1940 (Reaktion 2022). His current project is a book about the relationship of art to psychiatry since the late eighteenth century.

All are welcome to YGS lectures. Admission is free to Members and students, and a suggested donation from non-Members of £5.

Image credit: Lord Northwick's Picture Gallery at Thirlestaine House, Robert Huskisson, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Image (public domain) https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:723