Man en vrouw met twee kinderen in een landschap 1832 - 1905

Eugène Leguay created this print of a man and woman with two children in a landscape sometime in the 19th century. Leguay lived through tumultuous times in France, including the rise and fall of empires and revolutions. His artwork gives us a glimpse into the bourgeois life of the era. Here we see a family in a forest; the children are giving flowers to their mother while the father looks on. But there is a certain stillness in the picture; the mother’s look is melancholic and the father appears stiff and formal. It reflects the restrained emotions and strict gender roles typical of the 19th-century bourgeois family. While seemingly bucolic, Leguay's work hints at the quiet tensions beneath the surface of domestic life during this period. Ultimately, the image becomes a poignant reflection on identity, duty, and emotion, inviting us to consider the complex interplay between societal expectations and personal experiences during a time of immense social change.