18th century high society painter, who lived at Strand on the Green
Johann Zoffany (1733-1810) was a German Neoclassical painter, whose works are on show in a number of British Collections such as The National Gallery, The Tate Gallery, and The Royal Collection. He lived at 65 Strand on the Green from 1790 – 1810, where a blue plaque commemorates him. Read full profile on The Chiswick Calendar, and extracts below.
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Living in Chiswick
When they first came to London the Zoffanys lived in Covent Garden while Johann attended William Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane. Hogarth was a friend of David Garrick, the actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who dominated the London theatre scene in the mid eighteenth century. Hogarth painted several portraits of Garrick and his family, and in the early 1760s, when Hogarth was old and ill, Zoffany took took over the job of promoting him.
Garrick commissioned a series of theatrical portraits, including some of his most successful roles, such as Macbeth. Zoffany’s theatrical paintings are considered to be among his finest achievements.
‘It may be that the German first learned about Chiswick through Hogarth’s residence there’ wrote Zoffany biographer Penelope Treadwell in the Brentford & Chiswick History Society Journal, ‘because a year later – the year of the great artist’s death – he became a near neighbour of the Hogarth household renting London Stile House, a substantial property on the main road to Brentford with a large garden and meadow of almost eight acres, set back from the north bank of the river east of Kew Bridge.
‘The location of the property was perfect! Zoffany was a man with an acute eye for the main chance and with the Court at Kew almost in sight he could remain close to his Royal patrons and to Garrick’s riverside home in Hampton’.
- Read William Hogarth and David Garrick, the Painter and the Actor, by Jenny de Montfort, inspired by Gareth Armstrong’s 2026 play at the Tabard Theatre, Round About Hogarth.
- Read the Royal Academy article on Johann Zoffany by John Brewer, Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Insititute of Technology, here.
- Read the Brentford & Chiswick History Society article on Johann Zoffany by Penelope Treadwell here.
Find out more about the cultural history of Chiswick
Johann Zoffany’s house is one of 19 sites of artistic interest in Chiswick on the Chiswick Timeline Art Trail created by Karen Liebreich and Sarah Cruz of Abundance London. There is also a Chiswick Writers Trail, produced by Torin Douglas, Director of the Chiswick Book Festival; a trail around the sites of Georgian Chiswick: In Georgian footsteps, produced by the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society and William Hogarth Trust; and a guide to Chiswick House and Gardens, produced by Chiswick House and Gardens Trust.
Download the trail maps here:
Trail of Art & Artists
Trail of Books & Writers
In Georgian Footsteps
Guide to Chiswick House and Gardens
The Chiswick Calendar would like to thank the Royal Academy and the other organisations listed in this article for their permission to republish images of the paintings.