Sign in to access personalised features
By signing up you agree to terms and conditions and privacy policy
Enter your email address below and we’ll send you a link to reset your password
SOUTHEND MUSEUMS SERVICE
The Harris Family (detail), oil on canvas by British (English) School, photo credit: Southend Museums Service
This interesting group portrait acts as a glimpse into middle-class family life in the 1830s. Members of the family are depicted in a well-appointed room with a floral carpet taking part in activities such as playing music, reading and sketching. The depiction of these activities illustrates to the viewer the social status of the family, suggesting they are well educated. Particularly interesting, is the painting above the fireplace that seems to show the very picture we are looking at in place, again reinforcing the notion that this family has purposely constructed the scene. The pale wall colour and the rather washed out clothing and skin tone of the sitters, ensure the focus of this scene is the figurative set up rather than the individual characteristics of each sitter. This painting is a beautiful yet bizarre one, in which staging and construction of image is most evident.
Available now for just £40 plus postage.
The Southend Museums Service comprises five historical sites in the heart of Southend-on-Sea: Central Museum, Beecroft Art Gallery, Southchurch Hall, Southend Planetarium and Prittlewell Priory. Beecroft Art Gallery has over two thousand works in its permanent collection. This includes seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, contemporary works, and pieces by nineteenth-century artists such as Rossetti, Constable and Edward Lear.
Print or framed artworks from the Southend Museums Service.
View art prints
View licensed images
Photo credit: Southend Museums Service
A Breezy Day, Mouth of the Thames
William Anslow Thornbery (1847–1907)
A Distant View of Rome
George Edwards Hering (1805–1879)
A Quiet Backwater
Paul Désiré Trouillebert (1829–1900)
A Wayside Shrine
French School
A Winter Scene at Night
Salomon Rombouts (c.1652–c.1702)
Abraham Offin (b.1830)?
unknown artist
Afternoon, Hadleigh
George Shalders (c.1826–1873)
Alderman Dowsett, First Mayor of Southend (1892–1893)
At Leigh, Essex
Gustave de Breanski (1859–1899)
At Southend
Raymond Tucker (c.1830–1908)
Beggar Boys Playing Dice
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682)
Breakfast Still Life
Gerrit Willemsz. Heda (c.1620–before 1702)
Bridge at Little Stambridge
Bridge over a River
Edmond Charles Yon (1836–1897)
By the River
George Smith (1714–1776)
Capriccio
Giovanni Ghisolfi (c.1623–1683)
Cathedral Interior
Peeter Neeffs the younger (1620–1675)
Catherine Elizabeth Offin
Cattle at Bourne End
Mark Fisher (1841–1923)
Cattle by the River
Cattle in a Landscape
Cattle Resting in Marshland
Charles Wertheim
William Orpen (1878–1931)
Charles Woosnam, JP, Chairman of the Southend Gas Company
Henry Grant (active 1868–1916)
Browse and buy products inspired by this collection.
Harris Family
From £40.00
Essex
£15.00
