Zoffany’s The Garden of Hampton House, with Mr and Mrs David Garrick Taking Tea is a conversation portrait of the Garricks on their lawn in Twickenham. The occasion is a tea party.
The group includes Garrick, gesturing towards his brother David, with the fishing rod, Eva Marie Garrick, the butler, and a friend, Col. George Bodens, who looks like Samuel Johnson). The picnickers face Garrick’s Temple of Shakespeare, a Palladian structure with a bust of Shakespeare.
The strikes a balance of the pride of place (especially the small Chinese willow in the background, then a rare prize) and the informality of sitting on the lawn beside the Thames.
See Johann Zoffany. Mr. and Mrs. David Garrick at Tea on the Lawn (1762). Oil on canvas.