Fear of the Future: Victorian Childhood's Evolution

An English Family in Macao by George Chinnery

This image, crafted in 1835, shows us a portrait of an English Family living in Macao. Done by George Chinnery, the image conveys the family as civilized, beautiful and refined even within the Orient. Down to the portrait in the background of the English estate, the image reflects a British ideal of living. But, being earlier, we see how the children are portrayed as prim and proper little adults. Little movement is allowed by their clothing or postures (certainly white doesn’t play well out of doors). The portrait seems to overemphasize the Englishness of the family in order to compensate for lack of English society.

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