Realism

Louis Le Nain - Visit to Grandmother - 1645-48 - Oil on canvas, 58 x 73 cm - The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (click photo for larger image)Realism refers to the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations. Realism can be found in ancient Hellenistic Greek sculptures, and in the works of such artists as Caravaggio, the Dutch genre painters, the Spanish painters José de Ribera, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Zubarán, and the Le Nain brothers in France. French Baroque era painter Louis Le Nain (ca.1603-1648) was one of three painter brothers who worked together, mainly on commissions from the Parisian aristocracy. In the 1640s peasant scenes came into fashion. The brothers’ interiors are striking for the interweaving of approaching and retreating figures, illuminated and shady areas, and “the glances the personages seem to give each other before turning a common hospitable gaze to the viewer and the world."