◧ Artist: Louis Le Nain (c.1600 - 1648)
◧ Country: France
◧ Medium: Oil painting on Canvas
◧ Title: [Peasant Family]
◧ Painting Size: 113 x 159 cm
◧ Museum: Louvre Museum, Paris
◧ Country of Stamp Issue: France◧ Date of Issue: November 10, 1980
◧ Face Value: 3 French Franc
◧ Issued as a part of Famous Artists series
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Nine members of a peasant family are shown grouped by the fire. Some of them are sitting aroung a little table, looking outwards at the viewer as if he has disturbed them in their routine.
Four of the children are absorbed in their own activities: in the center a boy accompanies the crackling of the fire with a tune on the flute, while two other children warm themselves at the hearth.
Here the painter transcends a stark - but in no way cruel - reality by investing it with a moral, not to say religious dignity his clients doubtless found most appealing.
The work's relative chromatic restraint is an opportunity for the painter to demonstrate his considerable talent for handling light, whether coming from inside (the fire) or outside: there may be a window to the left.
The fullness and presence of the figures, the size of the picture - as big as a history painting - and the nobly poetic gravity of the scene make this one of the Le Nains' greatest masterpieces. (from the painting description from Louvre Museum)
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