Hieronymus Janssens or Jeroom Janssens was a Flemish genre painter known for his compositions depicting elegant companies engaging in dance, music or play, which were of influence on the development of the genre of the conversation piece. He also painted architectural scenes of real or imaginary palaces, churches, temples and art galleries.
Ball on the terrace of a palace
The game of "Main chaude"
Dungeon interior with elegant figures, with Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg
The Concert
A conversation piece refers to a group portrait in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other. The persons depicted may be members of a family as well as friends, members of a society or hunt, or some other grouping who are shown sharing common activities such as hunts, meals, or musical parties. It was an especially popular genre in 18th-century England, beginning from the 1720s, largely due to the influence of William Hogarth. Similar paintings can also be found in other periods and outside of England. The setting of various figures "conversing" in an intimate setting appears to call for small-scale paintings, but some artists treated this subject manner in the Grand Manner, with almost life-size figures.
The Jones Family Conversation Piece, by William Hogarth, 1730.
David Garrick and Mary Bradshaw in David Garrick's "The Farmer's Return" by Johann Zoffany, 1762.
Family Group in a Garden by Arthur Devis, 1749.