![]() This is a large work, designed as an entry to the Salon. ![]() ![]() Most of those criteria apply to The first born except for the scale. Such paintings would be small, suited to the domestic scale, detailed, and show a familiar rather than mythological or religious scene, often with a moral message. The general genre of narrative painting of interiors has its base in Dutch art of the seventeenth century, when the wealthy merchant class looked to spend their new wealth on works of art to adorn their homes. However there are also areas given careful attention, such as the still-life of jug and bottles on the rush chair seat, and the wooden box supporting the man. Large areas of the image are left bare – texture on the walls and floor – which provides general interest while keeping focus on the main action of the image. There is a wide range of tones, with that bright white morning light touching each of the main figures, and contrasting dark shadows in other areas. The colour palette is limited, mainly shades of yellow and brown, with touches of pink in the robe folder over the end of the bedstead and the shawl of the watching woman. In addition a small beam of light reaches over the pillow to find the head of the sleeping mother. The light is particularly varied and beautiful around the head of the older woman – reflected from the curtains onto her face, gleaming through what I assume is flax on her distaff, highlighting the shaping of her cap. There may be some additional light assumed from the doorway, otherwise it is reflected light which brightens the back of the man’s shirt. Most of the light in the picture is entering through the large window, and it is beautifully dispersed by the sheer curtains. There are the three adults, the crib, and another presence – a religious image. The main elements of the image are contained in a smaller area, outlined in pink in the diagram. The window is deeply set with a small platform, separated from the main room by a light curtain. We are looking into a bedroom, perhaps standing in the doorway. A range of diagonal and nearly-horizontal lines, shown in green on the diagram, create the space of the interior. An older woman, perhaps the grandmother, watches over the family as the light of a new day enters through the curtained windows.Ī series of strong verticals structure the image. The young father sits on a rough wooden box at the foot of the bed, leaning wearily. The new mother sleeps, exhausted after what may have been a difficult birth. A child, the first of the family, has been born and can almost be glimpsed in the straw-line cradle. The painting shows a bedroom in a working-class home. This large, square picture was awarded a second class medal in the Paris Salon of 1888 and was purchased from the Salon for AGNSW.
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