Portrait of the Artist and His Family

When Nicolas de Largillière created this family portrait, he was at the height of his fame. Born in Paris, he spent his youth in Antwerp, where he had also become a member of the painters’ guild. From 1674 to 1678, he worked for Charles II of England, subsequently returning to Paris, where he became a member of the Academy in 1686. By setting this scene in his studio, Largillière placed his self-portrait within the Baroque pictorial tradition of the artist portrait. What is rather unusual is the personal insight he allows into his private sphere. His wife, Marguerite-Elisabeth, daughter of the landscape painter Jean-Baptiste Forest, gazes at her husband while tending to her children. She gently places a veil over her naked son, Nicolas, who has fallen asleep, the reason why Elisabeth-Marguerite, the eldest daughter of the family, admonishes the growling pug to be quiet. The peony in her hair was supposedly meant to ward off the Plague, which Largillière himself had experienced in London in 1665. The apple the mother has placed in her daughter’s right hand symbolizes beauty.