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

Visit to Grandmother

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

Louis Le Nain was one of the three painter brothers who worked together, mainly on commissions from the Parisian aristocracy. In the 1640s they turned their hand to peasant scenes that had then come in fashion. Devoid of technical luster, their interiors are striking for the interweaving of several melodic threads: approaching and retreating figures, illuminated and shady areas, and the glances the personages seem to give each other before turning a common hospitable gaze to the viewer and the world.




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