Milkmaid's Family

Unlike in contemporary Dutch genre painting, Le Nain’s compositions indicate neither peasant labours and leisure nor the common people’s hard lot. Indeed, the expensive copper churn and clothing evoke prosperity. This family is more a symbolic expression of the unity between the inhabitants of central France and their native land. The contrived combination of a monumental group standing on a hillock as if on a pedestal, with a majestic panoramic view unfolding behind, has a certain elevated pomp.