Representing the Household and Family:
A Well Governed Numerous Brood with an Egalitarian Spirit |
| When Nicolas turned to
compose the worshipful biography of his father, many a fond and edifying memory thus
flowed from his pen.
One of the warmest and most edifying was the memory of the evening meals over which his
father presided and in which an egalitarian spirit co-existed with deference to the wise
household head.
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A warm view of a numerous family:
"Cow's Hoof" [Mon Pied de boeuf], Louis-Leopold Boilly, ca.1810
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| "Every evening at supper, which was the
only meal at which the whole family could meet, [Edmond] saw himself as a venerable
patriarch at the head of a large household. There were usually twenty-two at
the table, including the plowboys and vine-dressers, who act as threshers in
winter, the herdsmen, the shepherd and two female servants . . . . They all sat down at
the same table, the head of the family at one end near the fire, his wife next to him
within reach of the serving dishes . . . . Next came the children according to their age,
. . . then there was the longest serving plowboy and his companions, the vine-dressers,
and after them the herdsman and the shepherd. The two servant girls completed the group,
and they sat at the other end of the table opposite their mistress, who was thus able to
observe their every move." (pp. 108-09; italics added.) |
"The Evening Meal"
(La Vie de Mon Père) |
Twenty-two ate at the same table. Twelve people, making up
three generations, are pictured in the painting by Boilly. What do we make of these
numbers? How large were the households in rural France and Burgundy? To
pursue this question, follow these links in order:
[ Cenus of 1836 ] [ Family Size ] [ Children by Occupation ]
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