Uses and Messages of Poverty in Art
...ggs. Just like in A Peasant’s Meal, there is a table covered by a white cloth with a picture of wine on top of it in Broken Eggs. Another similarity is in the homes between the two paintings. The home from Broken Eggs also appears to be made by peasants and of stone, with a single window on the back wall. Both paintings seem to be illuminated in the same manner. In Broken Eggs, all of the light is focused up towards the front center of the frame where the action of the eggs spilling out of the basket takes place. There is definitely a major contrast of light and dark and presence of shadows in the painting. One of the differences in subject matter between the two paintings is the dress of the characters. The clothing of the peasants from A Peasant’s Meal is very drab and looks worn, old, and unkempt. It seems that the characters in the picture wear the same set of clothing all year round. Two of the characters in the painting are not even wearing shoes, which could be because the setting is indoors but possibly is another sign of the poverty. In contrast, the clothing of the subjects of Broken Eggs is much more elegant as it drapes across the bodies of the characters. This is especially exemplified by the young lady at the center of the painting. This difference between the two paintings is most likely attributed to the fact the two paintings were done more than a hundred years apart and the styles of painting during the two different artist’s eras were very different. Le Nain painted during the Baroque era which was characterized by detailed realism, so he most likely painted the clothing of the peasants exactly how it was. And Greuze painted during a time where there was a shift from naturalism to neoclassicism, so it would make sense that the character’s dress resembles that of classical robes. For the most part, the two paintings are very similar in setting, lighting, subject matter, and style. Although the two paintings are very similar in their subject matter and setting, the message and purpose for each painting is different. There could have been many purposes for Le Nain painting A Peasant’s Meal. One idea is that, “the purpose of what may loosely be called the Le Nain peasant pictures is that they functioned both as an upper class denial of riotous turbulent peasantry and as images of the virtues of patience, endurance, and humility attributed to the idealized poor.” The peasants were painted as docile and understanding because these paintings were meant to please the upper class, this theory makes a lot of sense. It is very possible that Le Nain may have been commissioned by someone in the upper class to paint the peasants as calm and accepting of their lives so that the rest of the upper class and nobility would not realize the problems that the peasants were facing. This painting was done during the thirty years war, a time that was very hard on the peasants. Fields and crops were destroyed due to battle, work was scarce, and the demanding and inconsiderate troops roamed across the lands stealing food and demanding places of residence. As a result of all of the hardships, this painting may have been done by Le Nain as a portrayal of how to handle war. By staying calm, patient, humble, and thoughtful the peasants could get through wartime peacefully. So this painting could be an attempt to downplay the hardships of war and keep the peasants calm to avoid any uprising that may have complicated the war even further. Another possible cause to this painting is to simply portray family life in the home of the poor during this time period. The painting is definitely portraying a family of some sort, because there are children and a mother, and older men. The children appear to want to learn from their elders. They are listening to the discussion that goes on at the table, and one child holds up a fiddle as if to ask one of the older men to help him learn to play. One scholar notes that, “the scenes of peasant life, whether interior or exterior, where all ages are grouped together evoking the passing of time, creating the meeting of experience and innocence. It is these juxtapositions that make paintings like A Peasant’s Meal so exceptional” The portrayal of the passing of time and knowledge within a peasant family also could have been one of the intentions that Le Nain had while making this great work. The themes and messages portrayed in Broken Eggs are different from those portrayed in A Peasant’s Meal. One of the possible purposes of Broken Eggs is to tell some sort of story that the upper class and the bourgeois...