The Strode Family

Hogarth's The Strode Family of 1738 depicts William Strode and his family in the conversation piece format that offered Hogarth a middle ground between the formal portrait and the genre scene, combining documentary likeness with social observation. The Strode family's gathering suggests both family solidarity and the social performance of genteel leisure — the books, musical instrument, and the family's interaction all serving to document the cultural aspirations of the English upper middle class in the early Georgian period.

Hogarth arranges the family group with natural ease and careful attention to the domestic interior and its furnishings. The warm palette and the lively interactions between the figures create an engaging portrait of Georgian domestic life.