The Noverre Children

The Noverre Children, painted in 1805 for the Norfolk Museums Collections, documents children from the Noverre family — a dynasty of dancing masters descended from Jean-Georges Noverre, the celebrated choreographer and author of Lettres sur la Danse, one of the foundational texts of ballet theory. The Norwich Noverre family were well-established in East Anglian cultural life, and Opie's connection to this world through his wife Amelia Alderson (who moved in literary and artistic circles in Norwich) makes this commission entirely plausible. A group portrait of children from a family with such distinguished cultural ancestry carries additional resonance — the painter is documenting the descendants of one of the great reformers of theatrical dance. The Norfolk Museums Collections preserve this alongside other Opie works connected to the Norwich circle.

A group portrait of children requires management of multiple faces and the natural energy of young subjects. Opie's approach would group the Noverre children in a natural arrangement that suggests both individual character and sibling relationship. The lighting would unify the composition while allowing each face distinct treatment. Children's informal dress of the early nineteenth century would be rendered with appropriate lightness.