Le Nain Brothers & Currier & Ives Meet The Masters Le Nain Brothers & Currier & Ives
Le Nain Brothers Antoine, Louis and Mathieu were three brothers, all painters, who were born in France. They were famous for their paintings of rural life.
Le Nain Brothers There are about 15 signed and dated pictures left by the brothers.
Le Nain Brothers Since their style was very similar, there is no certain way of telling which brother painted which painting.
Le Nain Brothers Most of their paintings were made of sober colors.
Currier & Ives Nathaniel Currier was a famous publisher of colored engravings (cutting or carving a design on a hard surface, to make a print.)
Currier & Ives Currier created a firm and years later, James Ives joined his firm and Currier & Ives was created.
Currier & Ives The prints were lithographs; hand colored using a mass production system.
Currier & Ives For nearly 50 years they published about 3 new prints each week on every aspect of American life. Battle of Mill Springs in Kentocky
Currier & Ives The lithographs featured portraits, sports, fires, disasters, The Civil War, political tracts, among others. Chicago Fire 1871
Compare Family of Peasants Happy Family
Family of Peasants by Le Nain Brothers Date 1640. This picture expresses the grave dignity of a family close to the soil. A peasant is a farm worker who was very poor. Le Nain obviously sympathized with the subjects and wanted to emphasize their simple merit.
Happy Family by Currier & Ives There is a family of grouse (a type of bird) painted with a lot of color. The earth, sky, and animals are seen as strong, simple, and very vibrant forms of nature.