Circle Of The Le Nain Brothers, The Rustic Snack, Circa 1650

Original canvas, framed. Good condition, some minor restorations. 87 x 76 cm (excluding frame). This painting belongs to the body of work of an anonymous painter whose works were identified by Georges Isarlo in 1938 and later by Pierre Rosenberg in his catalogue raisonné of the Le Nain family. This painter was active around 1650 and was strongly inspired by the subjects of Le Nain and the Master of the Processions. His style is characterized by Jean-Pierre Cuzin as featuring stiff village or town figures engaged in household or agricultural activities, or eating meals. He displays a distinctive, clean-lined style, particularly the tabletops seen from above. The artist reuses his figures from one composition to another, such as the servant carrying the two trays in this work, who also appears in another painting previously exhibited in our gallery (see photos). The seated figures also appear in another composition, now unlocated, mentioned and reproduced under number C13 in Pierre Rosenberg's catalogue raisonné. One of the paintings in this corpus is now in the collection of the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.