The Cheney Family

American 18th Century

National Gallery of Art

Twelve men, women, children, and babies are arranged on or around a couch in this horizontal portrait painting. The features and clothing are simply painted, so some of the faces are a bit generic. They all have pale skin with rosy cheeks, and all but one of them have blue eyes. The slate-blue couch is centered against a wall mottled with copper brown, golden yellow, and sage green. Three adults sit on the couch. To our left, a man wearing a black suit and stockings leans against the arm of the couch so his body faces our right in profile, his legs crossed. He turns to look at us with a slight smile on his lips, his eyebrows raised. His dark hair is smoothed back along the top of his head and is bushy over each ear. A white neckerchief wraps across his high collar and ruffles cascade down the front. He holds a book in his lap. Two women sit next to him, to our right. Both have dark hair and wear broad neckerchiefs over tightly fitting bodices, and white aprons over long, full skirts. The woman to our left turns her face slightly to our left but looks at us from the corners of her eyes. She wears a white bonnet, and her bodice is plum purple. The other woman’s head is uncovered and her forehead lined with bangs. Both of these women hold babies wearing white caps, and the babies smile. Just behind the couch, to our right of the second woman, a young man with a faint, dark beard, black hair, and brown eyes stands with his body facing our left in profile. He turns to look at us as he tucks one hand between the buttons of his nickel-gray, high-collared jacket. Two boys wearing blue suits stand to our left in front of the couch, near the seated man. The smaller boy, to our left, holds an archery bow, wears a dark cap, and looks at us, smiling. The older boy standing next to him has blond hair and points down at the younger child with one hand, the other on his hip. Two young women and a girl stand to our right, also in front of the couch. They all wear white dresses with long sleeves and skirts, their narrow waists tied with rose-pink sashes. Two older girls have black hair and hold hands. The youngest girl, near the right edge of the painting, has blond hair and also looks at us. The carpet beneath the group has vertical stripes leading back to the wall. Narrow bands of navy blue are dotted with pink to suggest a floral pattern, between wider, light blue stripes.