A Peasant Family
Antoine Le Nain (Laon c.1588 - Paris 1648), Louis Le Nain (Laon 1593 - 1648) and Mathieu Le Nain (Laon 1607 - Paris 1677)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1642 (formerly signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
787 x 914 mm (31 x 36 in)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486146
Caption
Determining the parts played by each of the Le Nain brothers in all of their work is difficult, and this picture is no exception. The painting was known as ‘Le Jeune Violiniste’ (The Young Violinist). It was attributed to Louis Le Nain in 1920. Corrections to the composition (pentimenti) and x-rays suggest that this was originally an outdoor scene. The alterations - the figure of the old man and the architectural background - are regarded as additions by Mathieu le Nain. The more sensitively painted parts of the picture are thought to be the work of Louis. While it would seem profitless to speculate further on the contributions rendered to this painting, it could be said that the little girl in the centre seems superior to the other figures; but it is difficult, apart from the figure of the old man, to discern a second hand in their execution.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Peasant Family, by Antoine Le Nain (Laon c.1588 - Paris 1648), Louis Le Nain (Laon 1593-1648) and Mathieu Le Nain (Laon 1607 - Paris 1677), formerly signed and dated: [Lenain] 1642. Eight figures. Six figures stand in the centre and at left, with two in the right background. A girl, at left, is just within the arched door of the room; wearing a grey bodice and emerald skirt with a basket on her left arm; next, a boy in a red shirt and fawn breeches plays a violin; next, a girl, full face, with crossed hands, in white head kerchief and blouse, red laced bodice and emerald skirt; next, profile, left, a smaller girl in vermilion jacket and gold-brown short skirt with bare feet. Behind these a table with a white cloth and a loaf; behind the table a boy in brown-gold, and a bearded man in grey holding a glass of wine. To the right, is a boy seated on a chair by a fire, another is standing by, and at left can be seen a landscape background.
Provenance
In the effects of the Earl of Thomond (c. 1713–1774) on his death and in the sale of the Marchioness of Thomond (1750-1820) on 18 May 1821, lot 20, bought by Taylor for £21.10s; in the collection of the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) by 1822, in which year he lent it to the British Institution. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth, The Egremont Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Lenain (signed)(see note below)
Makers and roles
Antoine Le Nain (Laon c.1588 - Paris 1648), Louis Le Nain (Laon 1593 - 1648) and Mathieu Le Nain (Laon 1607 - Paris 1677), artist Louis Le Nain (Laon c.1593 – Paris 1648), artist Mathieu Le Nain (Laon 1607 – Paris 1677), artist Antoine Le Nain (Laon c.1588 - Paris 1648) , artist
Exhibition history
The Brothers Le Nain, Painters of 17th -century France, Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2016 - 2017 The Brothers Le Nain, Painters of 17th -century France, Musée du Louvre-Lens, France, 2016 - 2017 The Brothers Le Nain, Painters of 17th -century France, Kimbell Art Museum, Texas, 2016 - 2017
References
Collins Baker 1920 C.H. Collins Baker, Catalogue of the Petworth Collection of Pictures in the Possession of Lord Leconfield, 1920, no. 48 Les Frères Le Nain, Grand Palais, Paris, 1978, no.26 Remastered - Bosch to Bellotto: An Exhibition of Petworth's European Old Masters (exh cat) (Andrew Loukes) Petworth House, West Sussex, 9 January - 6 March 2016, cat. 36, p. 21 The Brothers La Nain, Painters of seventeenth century, France (Ed. C.D. Dickerson III and Esther Bell), Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas and Fine arts Museums of San Francisco, p.276-279, cat.43 Le Mystere Le Nain (Ed. Nicolas Milovanovic and Luc Piralla-Heng Vong), for the exhibition Le Mystere Le Nain at Le Louvre-Lens, from 22nd March to 26th June 2017, cat. 21, pp.184-187