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This painting has traditionally been attributed to David des Granges, who is otherwise known as a painter of portrait miniatures, although a handful of half-length paintings by him have also been noted. Des Granges was of an immigrant family from Guernsey and was baptised in 1611 at the French Church in London; as an adult he lived and worked in the Covent Garden area. He was employed as a miniaturist by Charles I (reigned 1625–1649). During the English Civil War and subsequent Commonwealth period (1642–1660) he took the royalist side and produced many miniatures of the future Charles II (reigned 1660–1685). The painting is thought to show Sir Richard Saltonstall (1595–1650) of Chipping Warden, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, with his family.
The red hangings of the great bed are a sign of wealth and high status, but also give a celebratory rather than a sombre air to this grand dynastic image. To left and right of the bed can be seen the edges of a rich tapestry on the wall behind it – again a sign of wealth. The intermingling here of the figures of the dead and the living echoes the conventions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century funerary monuments, where a husband may be depicted in sculptural form lying alongside his first and second wives, all attended by the figures of both deceased and living children.
Further reading: 'Tate Gallery 1974–1976: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions', London 1978, pp.22–23 Simon Wilson, 'Tate Gallery: An Illustrated Companion', London 1990, p.17 Graham Reynolds, 'David des Granges', in Jane Shoaf Turner (ed.), 'The Dictionary of Art', London and New York 1996, vol. 13, pp.309–310 Karen Hearn May 2001
Title
The Saltonstall Family
Date
c.1636–7
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 214 x W 276.2 cm
Accession number
T02020
Acquisition method
Purchased with the assistance of the Friends of the Tate Gallery, the Art Fund and The Pilgrim Trust 1976
Work type
Painting
