LE NAIN brothers
French painters (b. 1598/1610, Laon, d. Louis and Antoine: 1648, Mathieu: 1677, Paris)

There were three brothers of this name, all born in Laon. Antoine was in Paris from 1629 and his two brothers Louis and Mathieu from 1630. They had established a common workshop in Paris. They remained unmarried and are traditionally said to have worked in harmony, often collaborating on the same picture. The "Le Nain problem" of determining which of them painted what is complicated because no signed work bears a first initial and no work completed after 1648 is dated. Evaluation of the three personalities early in the 20th century was therefore based on the dubious establishment of three stylistic groups. Art scholars today no longer try to attribute individual works, and the three brothers are treated as a single artist.

Preview Picture Data File Info Comment
Four Figures at Table
1630s
Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm
National Gallery, London

927*750
True Color
99 Kb



Four Figures at a Table
1630s
Oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm
Private collection

1400*1150
True Color
169 Kb



Four Figures at a Table (detail)
1630s
Oil on canvas
Private collection

1400*845
True Color
212 Kb



Bacchus and Ariadne
c. 1635
Oil on canvas, 102 x 152 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans

1195*800
True Color
92 Kb



Birth of the Virgin
c. 1645
Oil on canvas, 220 x 145 cm
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris

700*1050
True Color
85 Kb



Blacksmith at His Forge
c. 1640
Oil on canvas, 69 x 57 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

900*1066
True Color
121 Kb



Peasants at their Cottage Door
1640s
Oil on canvas, 55 x 68 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco

852*680
True Color
143 Kb



Preparing for Dancing School
after 1560
Oil on oak panel, 36 x 47 cm
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

1300*1021
True Color
234 Kb



Family Group
1647
Oil on copper, 28 x 38 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1400*1088
True Color
242 Kb



The Happy Family
1642
Oil on canvas, 61 x 78 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1306*1001
True Color
157 Kb



Landscape with Peasants
c. 1640
Oil on canvas, 47 x 57 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

1300*1032
True Color
181 Kb



Landscape with Peasants and a Chapel
-
Oil on canvas, 41 x 55 cm
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

1068*804
True Color
154 Kb



Milkmaid's Family
c. 1641
Oil on canvas, 51 x 59 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

1244*1074
True Color
184 Kb



The Musical Reunion
1642
Oil on copper, 32 x 40 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1500*1199
True Color
245 Kb



Three Young Musicians
c. 1630
Oil on panel, 27 x 34 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

1500*1153
True Color
248 Kb



Young Musicians
c. 1640
Oil on copper, 20 x 26 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

1600*1208
True Color
218 Kb



Peasant Family
c. 1640
Oil on canvas, 113,3 x 159,5 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1073*750
True Color
126 Kb



Peasant Interior
1642
Oil on canvas, 56 x 65 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

1301*1100
True Color
203 Kb



The Peasant Meal
1642
Oil on canvas, 97 x 122 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

972*918
True Color
145 Kb



The Village Piper
1642
Oil on copper, 23 x 31 cm
Institute of Arts, Detroit

1400*1024
True Color
233 Kb



Young Card Players
1643
Oil on copper mounted on panel, 30 x 39 cm
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

1600*1246
True Color
214 Kb



The Resting Horseman
1640s
Oil on canvas, 55 x 67 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

1000*814
True Color
172 Kb



Smokers in an Interior
1643
Oil on canvas, 117 x 137 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

1096*935
True Color
111 Kb



Smokers in an Interior (detail)
1643
Oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre, Paris

785*985
True Color
114 Kb



The Supper at Emmaus
1645
Oil on canvas, 75 x 92 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

900*751
True Color
95 Kb



The Cart or Return from Haymaking
1641
Oil on canvas, 56 x 72 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

888*716
True Color
197 Kb



Venus at the Forge of Vulcan
1641
Oil on canvas, 150 x 116,8 cm
Musée Saint-Denis, Reims

854*1100
True Color
129 Kb



Allegory of Victory
c. 1635
Oil on canvas, 151 x 115 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

650*850
True Color
80 Kb



Visit to Grandmother
1645-48
Oil on canvas, 58 x 73 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

1300*1050
True Color
191 Kb



Visit to Grandmother (detail)
1645-48
Oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

1031*1300
True Color
166 Kb