Peasant Interior

Louis Le Nain

National Gallery of Art

An elderly man, woman, and boy sit around a makeshift table in an interior as a girl stands by a fire in the background in this nearly square painting. The man, woman, and boy sit at a low, wide barrel partially covered with a white cloth. Their pale skin and clothing, in frosty tones of sand brown and white, are washed out by the bright, cold light coming from our left. Their clothing has rips and holes. To our left, the man sits facing our right in profile. He has tousled gray hair and a short beard and moustache. Wrinkles line his forehead over bushy brows, and a deep crease connects his nose and the corner of the mouth we can see. He wears a brown cloak and vest, and dark blue pants are tucked into his boots. He holds a wide-brimmed hat in his lap, and a walking sick with a spike on the end rests between his knees. An empty wooden bowl is tucked in near one elbow. The woman sits in the center facing us with one hand holding the other, close to her body on her lap. A pointed staff wrapped with white wool, a spindle, is tucked into one elbow. Her bronze-colored hair is covered by a white cap. Her small, dark eyes gaze, unfocused, toward us. She has a wide face and the hint of a double chin. She wears a muted red jacket over a frayed white shirt. The red is echoed in the tall, narrow glass of liquid the boy holds near one knee, to our right. Light glints off his arctic-blue eyes as he gazes at the old man. Pale blue shadows make the skin around the boy’s delicate nose, eyes, and mouth look almost translucent. His full pink lips are closed. His ash-brown hair is choppily cut and also tousled. He holds a jug in one hand and the glass in the other. A pewter plate and spoon rest on the barrel, and the plate holds a mound of unidentifiable, peach-colored food. The young girl stands at a tall hearth on the left side of the room beyond the man and woman. She faces our left and looks down, her face warmed to rosy pink by the fire below. She wears a brown pinafore, and stands of brown hair escape from her cap. In the background to our right is an open door next to a table or wooden shelf holding a pot, at least one plate, and a ladle.