Les Frères Le Nain : Bons Génies De La Sympathie Humaine

Antoine, Louis and Mathieu Le Nain have long been one of the greatest mysteries of 17th-century French painting. Their work has given rise to many problems of attribution: on the one hand to distinguish the hand of each of the three brothers, and on the other to differentiate their work from that of contemporary masters (such as the Master of the Beguines, the Master of the Processions, etc.). During the 1640s, the Le Nain brothers executed a series of masterpieces in Paris that were completely original. Their most famous compositions show peasants painted with striking truth and great emotional power.

After a completely renewed biography of the artists, which takes into account the most recent discoveries, the book focuses on the reception of their work and the many problems of attribution that it has posed over the centuries. An important part is devoted to the iconography and the thematic of the paintings, which are often more than simple genre scenes. Finally, the catalogue raisonné includes eighty-two paintings, each of which is the subject of a detailed note, in which the hands of Louis, Antoine and Mathieu are distinguished.