Interior with Musicians

Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842 - 1942)

Geffrye, Museum of the Home

1891-1892

The Geffrye Museum specialises in the history of the home, with a particular focus on the main living space within urban, middle-class homes in England from 1600 onwards. It houses has an important collection of paintings, prints and drawings depicting middle-class homes, which as well as being a rich source of information about the details of home furnishings, reflect changing values and ideas about home and family life. This particular painting is a remarkably well-documented depiction of a specific, middle-class London home by a significant artist and represents a major addition to the collection. It shows the artist's brother, Alfred Rooke and his family preparing to play a piece of music together at their home in the Mount Park area of Ealing. The room is furnished in the ‘artistic' taste, which had become fashionable among the urban middle-classes as an alternative to more mainstream furnishing choices. Many details within the picture offer hints as to the nature of the family and its tastes: for example, the floral decorations shown are interesting; the choice of a simple pot of heather, a humble heathland flower popularly associated with luck, for the table clearly demonstrates the family's ‘artistic' tastes.

• Medium: watercolour on paper
• Dimensions: 41 x 46 cm
• Art Fund Grant: £12500 ( Total: £25,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2011
• Vendor: Sotheby's

Provenance

In artist's family until 1978/9; Julian Hartnoll; Joseph Setton; by descent.

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