In this much idealized painting, Boilly portrays the emerging upper-class ideal of the affectionate, child-centered family in rural setting, continuing the Rousseau-inspired association of the countryside as a resevoir of virtue--and the city with corruption. Before us is a complex household of three generations under a single roof. In the background in front of the hearth, the wife and mother suckles a child, while she looks on at her older children playing a game like paddy-cake. There can be no doubt that the father--leaning in and wearing a cap--is a good representative on the new ideal of fatherhood: far from being distant and detached, his "natural" affection draws him close to his numerous brood and his face radiates warmth and pride. The grandfather, sipping his wine, is of a generation in which romantic notions of affection were yet to emerge. Nonetheless, he too draws close to lend his approval to the heart-warming moment of adorable children at play. At the center of all attention appears to be the eldest daughter, bathed in light and clothed in white--all composed to represent her maiden purity as well as her womanly readiness to bring forth and rear a new generation of children embued with her virtuous character. The composition of the central ensemble makes its point, too, marking the continued existence of patriarchal authority, with the grandfather at the summit of a pyramid of ages. This, however, is patriarchal authority of a new kind, the painting clearly suggests: one tempored by tenderness and affection.

Revisions