Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

INSIDE/INTERIORS: CHARDIN'S IMAGES OF THE FAMILY

2005; Oxford University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-8365.2005.00472.x

1467-8365

René Démoris,

Historical and Literary Studies

This article examines afresh well‐known paintings by Jean‐Siméon Chardin that represent the domestic interior, and questions the extent to which they circumscribe a moral realm and invoke an ideal of ‘happy families’. Chardin's families are rarely nuclear; rather they constitute complex and potentially dynamic households that include servants as well as parents and children. Through a close analysis of individual works, including still‐life and figure subjects, this essay draws attention to the ambiguity of the domestic domain as a space of the presocial, of wild, untamed drives, and one in which social aspirations are occasionally played out. It reflects on the passions and desires of the domestic world, intimated by an artist usually associated with Enlightenment.