The interior portrait (portrait d'intérieur) or, in German, Zimmerbild (room picture), is a pictorial genre that appeared in Europe near the end of the 17th century and enjoyed a great vogue in the second half of the 19th century. It involves a careful, detailed representation of a living space, without any people. These paintings were generally rendered as

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s and required great technical mastery, if little creativity. By the mid-20th century, although such scenes were still being created, photography had changed this style of painting into a form of intentional archaism.

Birth of the genre

The interior portrait should not be confused with what is called a "

conversation piece A conversation piece refers to a group portrait in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other.cabinet of curiosities. One of the first known examples depicts the library of

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

in London, dating from 1693. They are still valued today by researchers and decorators. In the case of Pepys, it can be seen, firsthand, how a scholar of that time arranges his books in a bookcase (an innovation at that time), uses a lectern, places cushions for his comfort, hangs maps, etc. Boxbarth after Feuillet Library interior c1700

Boxbarth after Feuillet Library interior c1700

It was not until the last quarter of the 18th century that a new type of interior portrait with a different intent made its appearance. This type first arose in architectural firms and was done for the benefit of their clients. Great architects such as the James Adam and his brother

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

of Scotland and

François-Joseph Bélanger François-Joseph Bélanger (; 12 April 1744 – 1 May 1818) was a French architect and decorator working in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassic style. Life Born in Paris, Bélanger attended the Académie Royale d'Architecture (1764–1766) whe ...

would execute watercolors of their previous projects to entice prospective customers. This created a fad among the wealthy and the nobility to commission paintings of their own rooms, to show off and preserve for posterity. These paintings were often compiled into albums. This craze was particularly prevalent in England. From there, it spread widely throughout Europe.

Apogee in the 19th century

The first historically important example of the interior portrait represents a small art gallery set up by the

Empress Josephine An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

at Malmaison in 1812. In this watercolor by

Auguste-Siméon Garneray Auguste-Siméon Garneray (1785 in Paris – 1824) was a French troubadour style painter. Life The second of three sons of the painter Jean-François Garneray, Auguste-Siméon studied under Jean-Baptiste Isabey and himself taught queen Hortense an ...

, we can see her harp, art collection and her shawl, left on an armchair. Thus a new element appears: the psychological elements of the décor and a palpable human presence. One can feel the owner's emotions and thoughts. In this sense, the paintings have truly become "portraits". Premazzi parlour

The immense popularity of these paintings in the 19th century can be explained by many factors. Among the

nouveau-riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...

and the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

, great importance was given to the home as a place of comfort, intimacy and family. This period also saw a specialization (e.g. separate dining rooms) that were once known only to the very wealthy. These new "middle-classes" were also eager to copy aristocratic tastes and industrialization made a much wider variety of furniture easily affordable. Finally, decorative styles were constantly being changed and resurrected, so interior portraits were a way of preserving one's memories and bequeathing them to the next generation.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

was very fond of these portraits as they allowed her to give the public a look at her loving family life and the comforts of home in a tasteful manner. The craze was thereby spread throughout the Royal Families of Europe. Due to the number of lavishly decorated palaces they possessed (

The Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now ...

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the cen ...

Gatchina Palace The Great Gatchina Palace (russian: Большой Гатчинский дворец) is a palace in Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It was built from 1766 to 1781 by Antonio Rinaldi (architect), Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigori Grigoryevi ...

Peterhof Palace The Peterhof Palace ( rus, Петерго́ф, Petergóf, p=pʲɪtʲɪrˈɡof,) (an emulation of early modern Dutch language, Dutch "Pieterhof", meaning "Pieter's Court"), is a series of palaces and gardens located in Petergof, Saint Petersbur ...

Pavlovsk Palace Pavlovsk Palace (russian: Павловский дворец) is an 18th-century Russian Imperial residence built by the order of Catherine the Great for her son Grand Duke Paul, in Pavlovsk, within Saint Petersburg. After his death, ...

...), the Tsars were among the most enthusiastic commissioners of interior portraits. Virtually all of their rooms (except the most private ones) were rendered at least once; some several times. These watercolors are considered to be among the best of their genre.

Speciality artists

Ludwig Passini - The Salone of the Palazzo Barbaro

At a time when every cultured young woman learned to paint watercolors, many painted their own rooms or the ones where they were given their lessons. Most of the surviving examples are anonymous and rarely of high quality, but they often have a charm that compensates for what they lack in technical expertise.

Peter Thornton Peter Kai Thornton CBE (April 8, 1925 – February 8, 2007) was a museum curator and writer. The son of eminent scientist Sir (Henry) Gerard Thornton and Gerda, daughter of Kai Norregaard, of Copenhagen (and related to the actress, director and ...

, ''Authentic Decor: The Domestic Interior 1620-1920'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986, However, some members of the aristocracy had real talent, verging on the professional. The Polish Count

Artur Potocki Artur Stanisław Potocki (1787–1832) was a Polish nobleman ( szlachcic). Biography He was the son of Julia Lubomirska and Jan Potocki, the travel writer best known for his novel Manuscript found in Saragossa. Artur was the owner of Krzeszowi ...

, for example, travelled widely, painting watercolors of the hotel rooms and other places where he stayed, from Rome to London. Nevertheless, virtually all the highest-quality works were produced by professionals with exceptional virtuosity in watercolors and a mastery of perspective...especially conical perspective, with two or three

vanishing point A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...

s, which produces an eerily photographic effect for modern eyes. With only a few exceptions, such as

Jean-Baptiste Isabey Jean-Baptiste Isabey (11 April 1767 – 18 April 1855) was a French Painting, painter born at Nancy, France, Nancy. He was a successful artist, both under the First French Empire, First Empire and to the diplomats of the Congress of Vienna. L ...

and

Eugène Lami Eugène Louis Lami (12 January 1800 – 19 December 1890) was a French painter, watercolorist, lithographer, illustrator and designer. He was a painter of fashionable Paris during the period of the July Monarchy and the Second French Empire and a ...

of France, architect John Nash and furniture-maker

Thomas Sheraton Thomas Sheraton (1751 – 22 October 1806) was a furniture designer, one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite. Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture characte ...

(both of England), few artists who dealt exclusively with these portraits are still familiar today. Among some notable artists who produced them, not previously mentioned: * In England: William Henry Hunt,

Mary Ellen Best Mary Ellen Best (1809–1891) was an English artist. Most active in the 1830s, she usually worked in water-colour, commonly painting scenes of domestic life. Biography Early life Best was born in York in 1809, the daughter of doctor Charles B ...

William Henry Pyne William Henry Pyne (1769 in London – 29 May 1843 in London) was an English writer, illustrator and painter, who also wrote under the name of Ephraim Hardcastle. He trained at the drawing academy of Henry Pars in London. He first exhibited ...

. * In France:

Charles Percier Charles Percier (; 22 August 1764 – 5 September 1838) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in a close partnership with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days. For ...

Adrien Dauzats Adrien Dauzats (16 July 1804 – 18 February 1868) was a French landscape, genre painter and painter of Oriental subject matter. He travelled extensively throughout the Middle East and illustrated a number of books for the travel writer, Baron Tay ...

. * In Germany and Austria:

Ferdinand Rothbart Ferdinand Rothbart (3 October 1823, Roth – 31 January 1899, Munich) was a German draftsman, illustrator and history painter. He also served as curator for the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich. Life When he was a young child, he move ...

Rudolf von Alt Rudolf Ritter von Alt (; 28 August 1812 – 12 March 1905) was an Austrian landscape and architectural painter. Born as Rudolf Alt, he could call himself von Alt and bear the title of a Ritter (knight) after he gained nobility in 1889. Biogra ...

Eduard Gaertner Johann Philipp Eduard Gaertner (2 June 1801, Berlin – 22 February 1877, Flecken Zechlin, in Rheinsberg) was a German painter who specialized in depictions of urban architecture. Early life and work Education In 1806, he moved with his ...

Emanuel Stöckler Emanuel Stöckler (24 December 1819, Nikolsburg - 5 November 1893, Bozen) was an Austrian painter, notable for his interior portraits. Life and work His father was a pharmacist who wanted him to become a doctor. His interests took another turn, ...

. * In Russia:

Eduard Hau Eduard Hau (Russian: Эдуард Петрович Гау; 28 July 1807 in Reval – 3 January 1888 in Dorpat) was a Baltic German painter and graphic artist. Life and work He was the son of painter Johannes Hau, who had emigrated from Northe ...

Vasily Sadovnikov Vasily Semyonovich Sadovnikov (russian: Василий Семёнович Садовников) ( – ) was a Russian painter, and a leading Russian master of perspective painting. Biography Vasily Semenovich Sadovnikov was born in 180 ...

Konstantin Ukhtomsky Konstantin Andreyevich Ukhtomsky (Russian: Константин Андреевич Ухтомский; (22 October 1818, Saint Petersburg - 26 August 1881, Saint Petersburg)

Grigory Chernetsov Grigory Grigoryevich Chernetsov (russian: Григорий Григорьевич Чернецов, 1802, Lukh — 1865, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter. He is notable mainly for landscapes of various parts of Russia, produced during hi ...

Nikanor Chernetsov Nikanor Grigoryevich Chernetsov (Russian: Никанор Григорьевич Чернецов: 21 June 1805, Lukh ''–'' 11 January 1879, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian landscape painter. His elder brother Grigory Chernetsov was also a pain ...

(his brother),

Alexander Brullov Alexander Pavlovich Brullov (, spelled Brulleau until 1822, when the family name was changed according to Russian pronunciation, sometimes also spelled Brulloff; 29 November 1798 – 9 January 1877) was a Russian artist associated with Russian ...

Karl Brullov Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (russian: Карл Па́влович Брюлло́в; 12 December 1799 – 11 June 1852), original name Charles Bruleau, also transliterated Briullov and Briuloff, and referred to by his friends as "Karl the Great", was a ...

(his brother), Pyotr Sokolov,

Orest Kiprensky Orest Adamovich Kiprensky (russian: Орест Адамович Кипренский -) was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably his portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1827), which prompted the ...

Alexey Venetsianov Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov (russian: Алексей Гаврилович Венецианов; 18 February 1780–4 January 1847) was a Russian painter, renowned for his paintings devoted to peasant life and ordinary people. Life Alexe ...

. * In Poland,

Aleksander Gryglewski Aleksander Konstanty Gryglewski (4 March 1833, Brzostek – 28 July 1879, Gdańsk) was a Polish painter and art professor at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. He is primarily known for his interior portraits of notable buildings throughout Polan ...

Recent expositions

* ''House Proud: Nineteenth-century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection'', Cooper-Hewith National Design Museum (a division of the Smithsonian, New York, 12 August 2008 – 25 January 2009 * ''Mario Praz - Scènes d'intérieur'', Bibliothèque Marmottan,

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the Parisian area, located from its Kilometre zero, centre. It is a Subprefectures in ...

, 20 November 2002 - 15 February 2003

Birth of the genre

Apogee in the 19th century

Speciality artists

Recent expositions

References

Further reading