Matthieu Le Nain Biography
Mathieu Le Nain, known as le chevalier (Laon, 1607 – Paris, 20 April 1677), was a French painter. He initially worked in his hometown and, from 1629 to 1677, in Paris. Le Nain, appointed painter of the city of Paris in 1633, and his brothers Louis and Antoine had a common atelier in this city and were among the founders of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1648. Also in 1633 Mathieu was appointed lieutenant of the bourgeois company of Sieur du Ry and in 1649 he donated the painting Portrait of Mazarin to the Academy. From 1652 onwards we find several documents signed by Mathieu relating to goods, real estate and other affairs. In 1658 he assumed the title Sieur de la Jumelle, the name of his estate near Laon. In 1662 he was decorated with the order of San Michele, an honor which he was forced to renounce in 1666. This artist dedicated himself mainly to genre painting and portraiture, including groups, but also created paintings with mythological subjects. Furthermore, he collaborated with his brothers on the creation of paintings of religious subjects. His works, of a more eclectic style than those of his brothers, present reminiscences of Willem Duyster, Jan Olis and Hendrick Bloemaert, as well as a clear Caravaggio style, so much so that, in the 19th century, the work of Dumesnil de La Tour was entirely attributed to the Le Nain brothers. Brilliant and elegant, Mathieu soon stopped creating genre scenes in rural settings to devote himself instead to portraying soldiers and young people with hats and lace lapels, as for example in Guardhouse (1643) or The Trictrac Players. Characteristic of his production is the intensity of the gaze of the people portrayed.
