Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional Search Ir al contenido principal

Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
Visit Collection Exhibitions Activities Education Search
  • Visit
  • Collection
  • Exhibitions
  • Activities
  • Education

Thyssen - Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
©
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Johann Zoffany

Group Portrait of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey

ca. 1783 - 1784
Oil on canvas.
91.5 x 122 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Inv. no.
445
(
1986.11
)
Not on display
  • Level 2 Permanent Collection
  • Level 1 Permanent Collection
  • Level 0 Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
  • Level -1 Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
Level 1
Permanent Collection
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Postpop rooms Rodin room
30 18th and 19th Centuries. Transatlantic Relations 31 19th Century. American Landscape and Environmental Awareness 32 19th Century. American Landscape and Urban Life 33 Recovering the ligth. Restoration of Waterloo Bridge, by André Derain 34 20th Century. Expressionist Landscapes 35 20th Century. Expressionist Portraits 36 20th Century. The Language of the Body 37 20th Century. Urban unrest 38 20th Century. Flowers 39 20th Century. Pioneers of abstraction 40 20th Century. Popular flavor 41 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition I 42 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition II 43 20th Century. Abstract Utopias 44 20th Century. Dada and Surrealism 45 20th Century. Interwar Realisms 46 20th Century. American Abstraction I 48 20th Century. Post-ward American Art 49 20th Century. Post-ward European Figurative Art 50 20th Century. Informalisms 51 20th Century. Homo Ludens 52 20th Century. Pop Art 53 Postpop rooms 54 Postpop rooms 55 Postpop rooms 56 Postpop rooms Rodin Exhibition room
Level 0
Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
A B C D E F G H I J Hall Temporary exhibition rooms Access to Permanent Collection Entrance Access to Carmen Thyssen Collection Paseo del Prado Garden
A 17th and 18th Centuries. Old Masters B 19th Century. North American Landscape C 19th Century. French Naturalist Landscape D 19th Century. Impressionism E 19th Century. Monet and North American Impressionism F 19th Century. Gauguin and Postimpressionism G 19th and 20th Centuries. Neo Impressionism and its Wake H 20th Century. Early Avant-gardes I 20th Century. Between the Wars Painting. Cubism, Abstraction and Surrealism J 20th Century. North American Painting and Others • HALL
Level -1
Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Temporary exhibition rooms Conference room EducaThyssen Workshop
View gigapixel
Discover some of the secrets and details invaluable to the human eye in this work.

In the early 1770s Johann Zoffany was commissioned by Queen Charlotte to paint the Tribuna of the Uffizi. The painter left for Florence in 1772 and returned eight years later in 1779. During the lengthy period that he remained in Italy at work on the painting the artistic situation in England had changed. On his return it was evident that the genre of the “conversation piece” that had brought him success and fame was no longer fashionable. This situation obliged Zoffany to find new clients and he consequently set out for India in 1783. There he worked for high ranking officials of the Crown and for the large British community, painting individual and group portraits and using the artistic formulas that had brought him success in the past. At this period Zoffany’s work appears rather stale and lacking in inspiration, his palette became more limited and his compositions are more complex due to the large number of figures involved. Zoffany’s Indian adventure concluded in 1789 when he returned to England, having considerably improved his financial situation.

The present portrait depicts Sir Elijah and Lady Impey and their three children. The canvas must have been painted shortly after Zoffany’s arrival in India on 15 September 1783 as the Impey family returned to Britain in December of that year. The composition reveals how the artist adapted his group portraits set in interiors to the new context in which he found himself and Zoffany continued to use a relaxed, informal and family mood. In the present case we see Sir Elijah and his wife attending a small celebration in which one of their sons, wearing Hindu dress, dances to music. The father encourages the small boy by clapping while Lady Impey is seated on the left with another of their sons leaning over her shoulder and looking at the principal scene, standing on a small stool to get a better view. The episode offered Zoffany the chance to depict the exotic retinue around the Impey family, comprising musicians arranged in line in the background, the household servants, one holding up a silver dish behind Sir Elijah, and the native nannies or ayahs seated on the ground in front of the musicians, one holding the third son on her lap.

Sir Elijah Impey was born on 13 June 1732 at Butterwick House. On 18 January 1768 he married Mary, son of Sir John Reade. Impey was appointed Chief Justice to the Supreme Court in Calcutta, an institution founded in 1773 and which he joined in 1775. It would seem that professional jealousy led him to exceed his functions and he also executed the function of President of the Central Court without the necessary permission from London. His conduct was reported and he was obliged to return to Britain to give an account of his actions.

The present canvas, which was displayed at Daylesford House, the UK residence of Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza, entered the Collection in 1986. The canvas had belonged to Sir Elijah Impey’s heirs until it was auctioned in London that year.

Mar Borobia

18th Centurys. XVIII - Pintura británicaPaintingOilcanvas
Listen
Download image Print page

Tours to find it

The Tickle. Las cosquillas, c. 1755
Tours
Life’s Pleasures

 Many of these moments  are linked to leisure pursuits or celebrations where diversions – either planned or spontaneous – are a welcome break from routine, and provide enjoyment and happiness.

A Girl in Japanese Gown. The kimono, c. 1887
Tours
Journeys

Our thematic route through the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza rooms to a land (as in Baudelaire’s dream in Invitation to the Voyage) where “all is order and beauty, luxury, peace and pleasure”.

Portrait of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland. Retrato de Millicent, duquesa de Sutherland, 1904
Tours
Jewellery

Through a selection of works spanning from the 15th to the 20th century, we examine the importance and evolution of the art of jewellery and its relationship with painting.

Products and publications

La máquina Magritte: Exhibition catalog (Spanish w. English texts)

La máquina Magritte: Exhibition catalog (Spanish w. English texts)

29.99 € 20.00 €

Spanish & Sisters x Lacroix crochet earrings

Spanish & Sisters x Lacroix crochet earrings

48.00 €

Poster Edgar Degas. Swaying Dancer, 1877-1879

Poster Edgar Degas. Swaying Dancer, 1877-1879

12.50 €

Catalogue Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Modern Painting (English)

Catalogue Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Modern Painting (English)

80.00 € 25.00 €

Visit online shop

More from the collection

Johann Zoffany
Johann Zoffany
Portrait of Ann Brown in the Role of Miranda (?)
1770
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Portrait of Sarah Buxton
ca. 1776 - 1777
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Frances, Countess of Dartmouth
1756
English Anonymous Artist
English Anonymous Artist
Model of a Ship, Bow View
ca. 1740
  • Private and/or didactic use
  • Commercial use
Private and/or didactic use
Group Portrait of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey. Retrato de grupo con sir Elijah y lady Impey, c. 1783-1784
Group Portrait of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey
Johann Zoffany

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Terms of Use

The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundación Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes, and other non-commercial uses.

Use for educational and research purposes is understood as the non-commercial or advertising use of images in presentations, conferences, school or university work, in classes at regulated education institutions, as well as in academic publications, with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies, provided that it is non-profit.

Non-commercial use is understood as the use of the images in a context where no profit, monetary or commercial, is generated, directly or indirectly.

Any use other than those indicated above will require the prior written authorization of the Fundación Any request for educational and research use or for non-commercial use (including academic publications), should be directed by email to the Museum Photo Library through the email address archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org. This department manages the worldwide distribution of the images of the works of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the management of their reproduction rights for those uses.

The user agrees to use the image of the website solely and exclusively for the purposes described above and in accordance with the following terms of use:

Terms of use

  • If the image is used for reproduction, the work must be reproduced in its entirety. The image may not be manipulated, deformed, modified, or altered in any way. In particular, no superposition (of images or texts) on the reproduction is allowed.
  • The reproduction of a detail or part of the work may only be made with the prior written authorization of the Fundación. In this case, the credit line must include the following mention: “detail”.
  • Any total or partial reproduction of the images authorized by the Fundación must be accompanied by the following mention: Author's name. Title, Date © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
  • The user will send to the Museum Photo Library of the Fundación one (1) free copy of the edition, publication or reproduction to the following address: Archivo Fotográfico, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado, 8 28014 Madrid, Spain.
Download image
Commercial use
Group Portrait of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey. Retrato de grupo con sir Elijah y lady Impey, c. 1783-1784
Group Portrait of Sir Elijah and Lady Impey
Johann Zoffany

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Terms of Use

The Photographic Archive of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works on its Permanent Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialized publications, you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail @email.

To request images or permits for other commercial or advertising uses (general publications, merchandising, exhibitions, audio-visual works, web pages, etc.), you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail @email.

The Photo Library and the Museum's Commercial Archive manage the worldwide distribution of images of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza works, as well as their reproduction rights. The applicable rates are calculated based on the nature and proposed use of the images, as well as the availability of the requested image.

Requests for scans or new photographs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, an additional fee will apply. Re-photographing a work will require a minimum of six weeks to complete.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the photographs set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license from the author or copyright holder known to the Fundacion in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

Download image
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional

Navegación secundaria (EN)

  • #Thyssenmultimedia
  • Press
  • Corporate events
  • Tourism
  • Join our team
  • Newsletter
Instagram
Facebook
X
Youtube
TikTok
iVoox
LinkedIn

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza would like to thanks for the collaboration of:

Fundación Mutua Madrileña Master Card Comunidad de Madrid
©2025 Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

Menú al pie (EN)

  • Legal terms and use of images
  • Public tenders
  • Transparency site
  • Accessibility and quality
  • Sustainability & 2030 Agenda
  • Contact
Ministry of Culture España es cultura | Spain is culture. The website promoting Spanish culture Paisaje de la Luz | Paseo del Prado y Buen Retiro. Paisaje de las Artes y las Ciencias
Certificación de Conformidad con el Esquema Nacional de Seguridad. Categoría Media. RD 311/2022