Family by Lamplight

As one of the most celebrated works of António Xavier Trindade, this painting offers the viewer a privileged glimpse of the artist’s family and their home in Mahim with its distinctive Goan interiors.
The mastery of the chiaroscuro technique can be recognised in almost all of Trindade’s oils, being the present work no exception, with its foreground figures sharply lighten contrasting against a dark background.
Around a brightly illuminated table, his five children go about their academic duties under the supervision of their attentive mother. António and Florentina Trindade had 8 children, of which we can identify five in this portrait: Zeferino age 14 standing in the doorway; Annalia age 12 and Ângela age 7 facing their mother; Gabriel age 9 with his back to the viewer and Clara age 4. Absent from this family depiction are three of Trindade’s children, namely Antoinette a new-born at the time, Esther and Joseph born later in 1918 and 1922 respectively.
Like many Western artists, Trindade established his presence in this scene in the portrait above the sideboard. The bearded man with a pipe resembles his Self-portrait in Green (1912).
References: Shihandi, Marcella, et al, António Xavier Trindade: An Indian Painter from Portuguese Goa (exhibition catalogue), Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 1996; Gracias, Fátima, Faces of Colonial India: The Work of Goan Artist António Xavier Trindade (1870-1935), Panjim, Goa, Fundação Oriente, 2014.