Book excerpt: "Conversely, Retford shows, there remained the requirement to promote traditional values of patriarchy and hierarchy, notably in the context of the country-house collection. Here, eighteenth-century portraits took their place in displays that emphasised ancestry and inherited virtue. However, in the later part of the century, the morals of the aristocracy were increasingly subject to political satire and caricature. Retford argues that some members of the nobility fought back with portraits that emphasised their domestic merits." ""The Art of Domestic Life" contributes a wealth of visual evidence to ongoing debates about the history of the family. It offers important insights into both innovations and traditions in the genre of family portraiture in this period, based on in-depth research into paintings, the lives of the sitters depicted and the domestic spaces in which those images were hung."--BOOK JACKET.