The Good Sharps: Members’ Book Club

Fun online discussion from the National Gallery about the Sharp family who are depicted in a painting by Zoffany from 1779-81.

I hadn’t attended one of these book club format events before but it was good fun and lead to a lively discussion between Hestor Grant, author of a book of the same title as the talk, and Matthew Morgan, art historian.

Grant outlined the lives of the family and why they appear on a barge on the Thames playing instruments. The answer to the latter being because that’s what they actually did that. 

I loved the painting but hadn’t realised before that one of the brothers is Granville Sharp who I had learnt about in school as one of the early slavery abolitionists in Britain.  What a fascinating character but matched by his siblings who were all philanthropists in different ways.

The book has been added to be ‘to be read’ list!

 

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