Happy Mothers and Other New Ideas in Eighteenth Century French Art

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Happy Mothers and Other New Ideas in
Eighteenth-Century French Art

Carol Duncan
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• Examining family relationships
• French artists and writers of the 18th century
  were captivated by the ideal of the happy mother
  and loving father.

• ..the content of this work was far from
  commonplace
• CONTENTs the happy mother, loving father,
  adoring SIX children, worshipping grandmother and
  family dogs.
• CONTENTment the satisfied and happy family
  (ergo the hard-backbreaking work is well worth it
  for so much bliss).

Jean Baptiste Greuze, The Beloved Mother (La Mere
bienaimee), 1765. Paris De Laborde Collection
(from Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LVI, 1960).
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Jean Baptiste Chardin, Saying Grace (Le
Benedicite), ca. 1740. Paris, Louvre.