Why the Le Nain brothers are called the most mysterious artists in French history

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Painting prodigies The Le Nain brothers are among the most prominent French painters of the 17th century, along with Nicolas Poussin and Georges de La Tour. Their paintings were acquired by famous historical figures (even Catherine II herself!). And now their works adorn the walls of the largest museums. The Le Nain brothers' mystery has fascinated art historians and sparked controversy for over a century.

Brothers biography

The Le Nain brothers are one of the greatest mysteries of 17th century French painting. There were three Le Nain brothers: the elder Antoine, then Louis and, finally, Mathieu. They were all born in Lana (northern France) between 1600 and 1610. Very little is known about the biography of the brothers. They moved to Paris in 1629 in the luxurious Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, where artists from the provinces or from abroad usually lived. At that time, only Antoine was recognized as a master and head of the workshop, and his two brothers just worked with him.

The Le Nain brothers practiced all genres: religious and mythological painting, individual and group portrait, genre art. In the 1630s, orders for religious paintings prevailed among them. The brothers then turned to peasant genre art, showing the poorest people with an extraordinary sense of human dignity. Although it was popular at that time to portray peasants in caricatured and mocking images. During this period, the brothers adopted the principles of Dutch group portrait painting, and their art approached perfection.

The brothers' masterpieces date back to the 1640s: "Peasant Families", "Forge" or "Farm Wagon" exhibited in the Louvre. These works demonstrate with absolute precision the simple and spiritual image of peasant life. The work of the Le Nain brothers is also small engravings on copper plates to monumental religious compositions, not to mention mythological paintings filled with special sensuality. After the "Peasant Family in the Interior", which is now in the Louvre, some of the brothers' works have become real icons in the history of art, and their life remains mysterious and leads to many conflicting interpretations.

What is the mystery of the brothers?

Riddle number 1. There is one BUT. Although the creation of the paintings in the studio was collaborative, their art is still the work of three different people. Historians have sought to identify and isolate the role of each of them, because an era saturated with individualism (an important imperative for expressing genius!) Is trying to cope with the vision of “collective art”. The essence of the riddle concerns the respective role of each brother in their common work: the pictures are heterogeneous, although the main themes reveal the dominant personality of one or the other. These works are a real challenge for art historians and are the very essence of the "secret of the Le Nain brothers".

Riddle number 2. But the mystery surrounding the Le Nain brothers doesn't end there. In addition to the alleged diversity of their personalities, a veil of secrecy also shrouds many of their compositions. Why such a special interest in peasant scenes among the representatives of the Parisian elite? How was such a non-standard combination of popular peasant elements with elements of the bourgeoisie formed, which never occurs in reality? Where, finally, does this excessive presence of children, sometimes dressed in miserable and sometimes bourgeois outfits, come from - and all this in one picture? Some see this as the special sympathy of the Le Nain brothers for charitable actions.

The role of every brother

Based on multiple controversies, art critics gave their own interpretation of the role of each of the brothers:

1. Antoine, Sr., was the author of small group portraits in a somewhat archaic style and awkward proportions. He loved a free and bright palette, childhood scenes.

2. Louis is considered a real genius of art in this family, the author of the "great style" of the Le Nain brothers. He is credited with all the most ambitious works, the most innovative and perfect: peasant scenes, mythological subjects that demonstrate sensuality, the best portraits. His style is austere, powerful, in shades of brown, green, gray and blue.

3. Mathieu is the most controversial figure in the family, and opinions about him differ widely. The fact that he outlived two of his brothers, who died in 1648, does not seem to be in his favor. After 1648, Mathieu lost all the best qualities that he had developed in the workshop with his brothers. His paintings took on a more ridiculous art form without the need to maintain their own artistic reputation or that of a studio. Although, enriched by the reputation of the workshop and the continuity of his brothers, Mathieu made every effort to improve the family business. He is credited with mastery, a sense of posture, camera angle and a more varied range of colors. Like his brothers, Mathieu was a portrait painter. In doing so, he achieved civil and military honors and even nobility.

The work of the brothers-artists is a testament to the overwhelming success they achieved during their lifetime. Like many brilliant artists, they were later forgotten, and rediscovered by the art critic and apostle of realism, Chanfleury only in the middle of the 19th century. Chanfleury saw the brothers as predecessors, reflecting on the canvases the truth about the pitiful reality of the peasant situation of their time. These are artists who, despite their predominantly Parisian careers, remained strongly attached to the countryside of their native land. Mystery envelops the Le Nain brothers, who, paradoxically, were the most talented and deservedly famous artists of their time. The works of the Le Nain brothers are today icons of French art.