Editing Conversation piece (section)

{{Short description|Painting genre}}
{{Other uses|Conversation Piece (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Hogarth - The Jones Family Conversation Piece, 1730, NMW A 3978.jpg|thumb|276px|''The Jones Family Conversation Piece'', by [[William Hogarth]], 1730.]]
A '''conversation piece''' refers to a group [[portrait]] in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other.<ref name=rkd>[https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/80822 Conversatiestuk] at the [[Netherlands Institute for Art History]]</ref>  The persons depicted may be members of a family as well as friends, members of a society or hunt, or some other grouping who are shown sharing common activities such as hunts, meals, or musical parties.<ref>[http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/conversation-piece Glossary: Conversation Piece.] The National Gallery. Retrieved 20 March 2022.</ref><ref name=nga>[https://www.nga.gov/global-site-search-page.html?searchterm=British+Conversation+Pieces+and+Portraits+of+the+1700s British Conversation Pieces and Portraits of the 1700s] at The National Gallery. Retrieved 20 March 2022.</ref> It was an especially popular genre in 18th-century England, beginning from the 1720s, largely due to the influence of [[William Hogarth]]. Similar paintings can also be found in other periods and outside of England.<ref name=ox>[https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T019255 D'Oench, Ellen G. "Conversation piece"]. Grove Art Online. Retrieved 20 March 2022.</ref> The setting of various figures "conversing" in an intimate setting appears to call for small-scale paintings, but some artists treated this subject manner in the [[Grand Manner]], with almost life-size figures.<ref name=nga/>