An Artist and His Family

German 19th Century

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a group of people in a room. In the center, a woman in a red dress and a red bonnet sits with a baby on her lap. A man stands to the left, leaning on a wooden desk or podium with a piece of paper on it, while another man stands on the right, leaning on the back of the woman's chair and looking down at her. An elderly woman is seated on the left beside the wooden desk, wearing a white bonnet and a dark yellow dress. Two girls are on either side of her, one standing and one sitting, reading a book. Another girl stands next to the woman in red, their arms linked together. Two other girls are on the right, one older girl crouching next to a younger girl who stands, holding a piece of paper in her hands. There are two scraps of paper on the ground next to her. A black poodle sits on the floor in the center of the children, and a doll is on the ground nearby. The background shows red curtains drawn back to reveal a landscape view through a window. The wall is gray, and the floor is pale wood. All of the people have pale skin, and hair ranging from black to light brown to pale yellow.