148/2010

Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Portrait of a family in an interior, thought to be the Roubel family, oil on canvas, by an unknown artist, c.1750. The painting was formally attributed to Stephen Slaughter.

Portrait of a family in an interior, thought to be the Roubel family

oil painting
painting
frame

148/2010

Unknown (artist)

1750s (painted)

Georgian (1714-1837)

oil paint
canvas

painted

Painting, oil on canvas in a carved and gilded frame.

This painting depicts a family group, consisting of a man and woman with two boys and a girl, seated on baluster chairs around a pillar and claw table in an interior. On the table there are two books. The male figures are shown on the right hand side of the picture while the female figures are shown on the left. The two boys are shown in the centre of the group wearing matching costumes consisting of blue jackets and red waistcoats, the eldest's trimmed with gold braid and the younger with silver. On the left of the picture there is a figure of a girl in a white dress holding a floral wreath, partially obscured by a black curtain.

The room is decorated with a geometric patterned marble floor or floor cloth. In the background there is an arched fireplace with a carved stone frieze above which is a landscape painting in an elaborate gilt and carved frame. The fireplace is flanked by carved sconces and marble busts. On the right hand side of the picture the edge of a marble topped console table is table is visible as well as part of a rococo gilt and carved mirror. To the left of the scene there is a panelled window casement.

console table
tripod table
chair
fireplace
panelling
sconce
mirror
painting
curtain
book
bust

Height: 60.5cm
Width: 73cm
Height: 75.4cm
Width: 87.9cm

images of living rooms
floor treatments
living room furniture
seating
mirrors
tables
ornaments
reading
window treatments

Label text for the digital interactive located in the Reading Room (September 2015- June 2017):

Group portrait, probably of Charles-Moyse Roubel, a jeweller and his family
Artist unknown
(formerly attributed to Stephen Slaughter)
Oil on canvas, about 1752

This painting shows Charles-Moyse Roubel, his wife Sarah and three of their children, Paul, John and Catherine. Charles was a Huguenot (member of the French Protestant Church) who fled France to escape religious persecution; he settled in Bath where he worked as a jeweller.

Catherine died in 1752 at the age of six. Her position in the painting sitting slightly separate from the rest of the family and holding a wreath probably references her recent death, and was a fairly common device in this type of portraiture.

Label text for the exhibition At Home with the World, Geffrye Museum (20 March 2012- 9 September 2012):

Group portrait, probably of the Roubel family
Oil on canvas
Artist unknown (formerly attributed to Stephen Slaughter),
England, about 1750–60

Charles-Moyse Roubel was a jeweller and a Huguenot, who settled in Bath. Huguenots fled religious persecution in France, and many settled in England bringing valuable skills with them. The furnishings shown with Roubel and his family include the central tripod table and chairs, of English form but with Dutch, French and Chinese influences, a seventeenth century Dutch landscape painting over the fireplace and a Rococo mirror and table to the right, a style that was current in France, but less successful in England.

Painting is out of copyright.
The photograph is in copyright to the Museum of the Home