The Strong Family

Names inscribed across the bottom of what is evidently a later frame help identify some of the figures in the picture (see Notes). Edward Strong (1676–1741), the standing man in black, succeeded his uncle, Thomas, and his father, also Edward, as a master mason at the cathedral of St. Paul’s in London, built between 1675, when Thomas laid the first stone, and 1708, when Edward Senior laid the last. Seated next to him, in blue, is his daughter Susan, Lady Strange. The older woman at left is Mrs. Strong, and the two little girls near her are her granddaughters and Lady Strange's daughters, Mary, later Lady Nares, and Lucy, later Lady Wheler. The boy is identified as Mary's husband, Sir George Nares, which is unlikely since he was sixteen in 1732 when the picture was painted and did not marry into the family until 1751. Mary and George's son Dr. Edward Nares married Lady Charlotte Spencer Churchill, daughter of the fourth Duke of Marlborough, in 1797, which explains how the picture formerly came to be known as The Churchill Family (information provided by Oliver Nares, a descendant; correspondence of 2009 in departmental files). The painting descended in the Nares family until 1930.

The interior space is rigidly centralized and symmetrical except for a curtained window on one side and a door opposite. The wainscoting, patterned panels, and carpet are typical for Philips, as are the tables for tea and cards. The small conversation piece was just coming into fashion around 1730, and Philips's early works, group portraits such as this one, were evidently influenced by Hogarth. Later Philips turned to portraiture in large. His entire career seems to have spanned a single decade, 1730–40.

[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): CPhilips [initials in ligature] pinxit 1732

by descent to Vice Admiral John Dodd Nares, R.N. (until 1930; sale, Christie's, London, June 30, 1930, no. 38, as "The Churchill Family . . . with portraits of Mrs. Strong, Sir George and Lady Nares, Lady Wheeler, Mr. Edward Strong, builder of St. Paul's, and Lady Strange," for £210 to Ehrich); [Ehrich Galleries, New York, 1930–31; their sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, November 20, 1931, no. 66, as "Portrait Group of the Churchill Family," for $500 to Weil]; M. S. Weil (from 1931); sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, December 14, 1933, no. 56, as "The Churchill Family," for $310 to Ehrich; [Ehrich Galleries, New York, from 1933]; [Averell House, New York, until 1934; sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, May 17, 1934, no. 71, as "The Churchill Family, for $220 to Ehrich-Newhouse for Lehman]; Robert Lehman, New York (1934–44)

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "English Paintings of the Eighteenth Century," November 8–December 1, 1930, no. 23 (as "The Churchill Family," lent by the Ehrich Galleries, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Family Life," March 15–May 19, 2002, no catalogue.

Detroit Institute of Arts. "Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea and Chocolate," November 20, 2016–March 5, 2017, no. 21.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 77.

Charles Saumarez Smith. Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. London, 1993, p. 106, colorpl. 89.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 184, ill.

Hugh Belsey in The Dictionary of Art. Ed. Jane Turner. Vol. 24, New York, 1996, pp. 632–33, mentions the picture as a good example of Philips's "rather stilted conversation pieces".

Katharine Baetjer. British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875. New York, 2009, pp. 52–54, no. 23, ill. (color).

Yen-Fao You. Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate: Consuming the World. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2016, pp. 29, 132, no. 21, ill. p. 31 (color).

Hope Saska in Yen-Fao You. Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate: Consuming the World. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2016, pp. 71, 82 n. 2.

Kate Retford. Conversation Piece: Making Modern Art in Eighteenth-Century Britain. New Haven, 2017, pp. 293–95, 376 n. 32, fig. 220 (color), discusses the narrative of the little girl pulling on the tablecloth at center.

The following inscription appears across the bottom of what is probably a later frame: (below seated woman at left and three children next to her) MRS. STRONG Sir GEORGE NARES LADY NARES LADY WHELER; (below standing man in black and seated woman in blue) MR. EDWARD STRONG / BUILDER OF ST. PAUL'S. LADY STRANGE; (at right) by PHILIPS pinx. 1732.

Edward Strong (1676–1741) of Greenwich succeeded his father, Edward (1652–1723), and uncle, Thomas (ca. 1634–1681), as a master mason at St. Paul's, built between 1675 and 1708. His daughter Susan, or Susanna (1701–1747), married Sir John Strange (1696–1754). Their daughter Lucy Strange (1731–1800) married the Reverend Sir Charles Wheler (1730–1821), prebendary (honorary canon) of York cathedral, in 1762. Her sister Mary Strange (1726–1782) married Sir George Nares (1716–1786), a lawyer, in 1751.