The Representation of Family in Nineteenth Century English Art

The Representation of Family in Nineteenth Century English Art

19th century art gives us a great insight into Victorian society and

culture, its hopes, fears, likes, dislikes, its ambitions and failures

and its preconceptions and contradictions (The Victorian Web, 2003) .

Each picture tells a story and provides us with a great record of

Victorian culture and the thoughts and pre-occupations of people

throughout the 19th century. The home and the family became the

centre of 19th century life and the family was the most common of all

Victorian paintings. Domestic ideology became the dominant ideology

and the family was seen as a sign of order; it was perceived as the

foundation of social stability and progress (L Nead 1988 pg 36).

Strong discourses were set out in the paintings during the 19th

century but were these paintings true to life or true to how the

Victorians wanted us to see their lives?

“The cult of domesticity developed with the separation of the home and

the workplace during the late eighteenth century and the early

nineteenth century”. “The establishment and maintenance of the

domestic unit was the basis for social stability and order. Society

was seen to be composed of a community of homes and each of these

units was a microcosm of society. Regulation, control and peace in

the home ensured national security and prosperity” (L Nead 1988 Pg 32

& 33). The dominant view of the homes and families in paintings

would be middle and working class families. These ideologies of the

family and their home were maintained by the influence of women. A

respectable woman was at the forefront of Victorian families. Men and

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...like the way in which our newspapers put forward

popular discourses today. The painters did an extremely good job of

painting a picture of the ideal Victorian family, though it can be

argued as to how accurate the scenes were. However accurate or

disillusioned 19th century art may or may not have been, it has

defiantly presented us with a very comprehensive view of the Victorian

age and the norms and values that went along with living in such a

society.

Bibliography

Nead, L (1988) Myths Of Sexuality – Representations of Women in

Victorian Britain, Oxford: Basil Blackwell Inc

Wood, C (1976) Victorian Panorama- Paintings of Victorian Life,

London: Faber and Faber Ltd

Marsh, J (1987) Pre-Raphaelite Women, London: George Weidenfeld and

Nicolson Ltd

The Victorian Web - 2003 – www.thevictorianweb.org