The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Peasant Children Dancing

Peasant Children Dancing

1650s

circle of Le Nain

(French)
France, 17th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 111 x 142 x 8 cm (43 11/16 x 55 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 91.8 x 120.3 cm (36 1/8 x 47 3/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Salmon P. Halle in memory of Salmon Portland Halle 1958.175.2
Location: not on view

Description

This scene of outdoor, rustic frivolity was probably painted by the Master of the Béguins, a Flemish imitator of the Le Nain brothers who capitalized on their success around the 1650s in Paris. Distinct features of this artist's style are the wide eyes, pudgy cheeks, and white peasant caps—béguins—that give the artist his name. The sturdy and comical peasants, clothed in coarse fabrics with heavy folds, and the use of earthen tones emphasize the provincial mood. During the mid-17th century, the treatment of the poor and lower classes was a subject of great debate in the Catholic Church in Paris, especially at Saint Sulpice, where the Le Nain brothers were buried. Scenes of everyday workers or peasants were incredibly popular, drawing on both comic, Flemish genre scenes of drinking and the French interest in carefully observed, realistic details. Although the picture's meaning remains ambiguous, the gaiety of this world comes from the wonderfully naturalistic details, such as the worn hole on the piper's elbow, the villagers' cheerful expressions, and still-life details such as the ripe apples and reflective drinking vessel.
  • Count Ottone Ponte di Scarnafigi of Sardinia (died 1788);
    Count Louis de Seyssel, (Turin, Italy), sold to Salmon Portland Halle, 1916
    Salmon Portland Halle, upon his death, by inheritance to his wife
    Mrs. Salmon Portman Halle, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 3. European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Reproduced: cat. 40B, p. 96 - 98
    Thuillier, Jacques. Les frères Le Nain. Dijon: Éditions Faton, 2016. Reproduced: P. 212, 215, no. 69
  • Paris, Grand Palais, 1978/79: "Les Frères Le Nain," cat. no. 69, pp. 318, 319, 321-322, 324, repr. p. 321. (catalogue by Jacques Thuillier and Michel Laclotte).
    Les Frères Le Nain (The Brothers of Nain). Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (organizer) (October 3, 1978-January 8, 1979).
    Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art 1947: "The Brothers Le Nain," cat. no. 14., repr.
  • {{cite web|title=Peasant Children Dancing|url=false|author=Le Nain|year=1650s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.175.2