Madame Charpentier and Her Children《夏爾潘蒂埃夫人和她的孩子》

愛藝

A brilliant and attractive woman， with great influence in the world of letters， art， and politics， Madame Charpentier became interested in the Impressionists in the late 1870s， and particularly in Renoir. When he was commissioned to paint her—one of the most celebrated hostesses in Paris—at home with her children， Renoir seized the opportunity to make an impressive showing in the Salon of 1879， and thus encourage the reception of his work in circles that could afford to pay for it.

Here is that rare hybrid， a picture that meets the requirements of society portraiture， while at the same time engaging the artist fully in terms of his own personal creativeness. The patron， understandably， subordinates his interests in pictorial values to his hopes for an agreeable presentation of those qualities in his family that are precious to him. And certainly， as a charming revelation of a particular woman and her children， of her personality and the quality of her home， this picture is an unqualified success， and was so regarded at the Salon.

But it is also successful as a Renoir： full of grace and freshness， and arranged with a freedom rather unusual in a picture in which the various elements are not the choice of the artist at liberty in his own studio. Boldly， the artist concentrates attention on the children and the dog， who rolls his eyes in mock anguish over the weight on his back. In contrast to these attractions， through the placing of the figures and the perspective of the rug， the eye is led to the upper right corner， where there is a grouping of handsomely painted details， and an exit into the distance. To lend stability to the canvas and localize the vision， the prominent and richly varied black of the dress is placed in the center of the composition， taking the eye， by means of an animated silhouette， to the edge at the right.

Black and white， in the dress and in the dog， provide one major color motif; blue， another. To set them off， coral panels appear in the background， and the other areas of the canvas embody nuances of all the major colors.

夏爾潘蒂埃夫人才華橫溢、頗具魅力，在文學界、藝術界和政界都有很大的影響力。1870年代末，她開始對印象派畫家產生興趣，尤其喜愛雷諾阿的作品。雷諾阿接受委托為這位巴黎社交圈極具名望的女主人畫一幅她和孩子在家中的畫像，他抓住機會在1879年的沙龍展上公開展示此畫，給人們留下深刻印象，從而也促使有買畫能力的人群接受他的作品。

這幅畫是比較少見的既符合上流社會對肖像畫的要求，又充分發揮畫家個人創造力的作品。相比對繪畫價值的興趣，贊助人更看重繪畫內容，他希望對他來說非常珍貴的那些家庭品質可以悅目地呈現在畫中，這一點可以理解。當然，在優雅描繪一位女士及其孩子、展現她的個性及其家庭品質方面，這幅畫毫無疑問是成功的，在沙龍上也得到了同樣的評價。

應該說這也是雷諾阿的佳作之一：畫面滿溢雅致和清新，畫中的自由布局非同尋常，各種元素并非畫家在自己畫室里的自由選擇。雷諾阿大膽地將焦點集中在孩子們和狗身上，狗貌似痛苦地轉著眼珠，仿佛背負的東西太重。與這些吸睛點形成對比的是，通過各個人物的位置安排和地毯的斜角擺放，觀畫者的視線被引至右上角，那里有一組精美描繪的細節，還有一個出口，通向遠處。為保持構圖穩定平衡，讓視線相對集中，雷諾阿將黑色連衣裙放置在了畫面中心，那黑色如此醒目且豐富多變，通過一種動畫剪影式的描繪，把觀者視線帶到右側邊緣。

黑白色是此畫的一大色彩基調，連衣裙和狗就是這兩種顏色的組合;藍色是另一基調。為襯托這兩種基調，背景中繪制了珊瑚嵌板，畫面其他區域則體現出所有主色的細微差別。