Four Figures at A Table
Artist: The Le Nain Brothers (French, active 1630 - 1640)
Original Dimensions: 17 5/8" x 21 5/8"
Location: National Gallery of Art, London
About Artwork: (About 1643) "In this sombre scene a peasant woman, a young girl and two children sit round a table in a dreary room. The older girl and woman look straight at us, their furrowed brows, pursed lips and tense gazes creating a feeling of melancholy or despair. The boy concentrates on cutting bread, smiling contently, his hat tipped playfully to one side. In the background a young girl emerges through the gloom – her appearance ghostlike, her hands clasped together, her stare direct and unsettling. The family are impoverished but remain dignified: their clothes are simple, but not shabby and torn. The three Le Nain brothers – Antoine, Louis and Mathieu – painted many scenes of everyday life experienced by the peasant classes in rural France. The large number of copies of pictures like this one suggests that there was a substantial market for them in Paris, where the brothers lived and worked, at a moment when similar Dutch and Flemish genre scenes were very popular." - (National Gallery of Art, London)

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