Artwork Page for Vintage Scene

Details / Information for Vintage Scene

Vintage Scene

1650s

circle of Le Nain

(French)
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Culture
France, 17th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 111 x 142 x 8 cm (43 11/16 x 55 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 92 x 121 cm (36 1/4 x 47 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Salmon P. Halle in memory of Salmon Portland Halle 1958.175.1
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The mid-17th century saw revived interest in representations of the lower classes. Artists like the Le Nain brothers in France painted scenes that looked back to the Renaissance tradition of pastoral imagery. The Le Nain often depicted ordinary country folk going about their daily business, subjects and figures they remembered from their childhood in rural Laon. Considered a companion piece to Peasant Children Dancing (1958.175.2), Vintage Scene has also been attributed to the Master of the Béguins, a Flemish artist who worked in the manner of the Le Nain in Paris. Here, good-natured though bawdy men drink in the background shade, while a sweet-faced young woman in the center surrounded by chubby children flashes the viewer a coy smile that reveals her awareness of the slowly creeping hand of her drunk companion. While peasants drinking was a popular subject among Flemish artists, the theme of wine connects the subject with the grape harvest, which recalls the Le Nain's agricultural homeland in France. This use of both aesthetic and biographical aspects of the Le Nain's lives demonstrates the Master of Béguins's ability to absorb the stylistic and thematic lessons of the famous brothers.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts people with light to medium skin tones gathered near large wooden barrels. Centered, a woman nurses an infant while a bearded man leans toward them with a glass. In the foreground, two children play beside a dark goat. To the left, figures drink from jugs near white linens. Warm, directional light bathes the figures, contrasting with a darkening landscape and hazy trees in the background.

Vintage Scene

1650s

Le Nain

(French)
France, 17th century

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