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

爱艺

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.

夏爾潘蒂埃夫人才华横溢、颇具魅力，在文学界、艺术界和政界都有很大的影响力。1870年代末，她开始对印象派画家产生兴趣，尤其喜爱雷诺阿的作品。雷诺阿接受委托为这位巴黎社交圈极具名望的女主人画一幅她和孩子在家中的画像，他抓住机会在1879年的沙龙展上公开展示此画，给人们留下深刻印象，从而也促使有买画能力的人群接受他的作品。

这幅画是比较少见的既符合上流社会对肖像画的要求，又充分发挥画家个人创造力的作品。相比对绘画价值的兴趣，赞助人更看重绘画内容，他希望对他来说非常珍贵的那些家庭品质可以悦目地呈现在画中，这一点可以理解。当然，在优雅描绘一位女士及其孩子、展现她的个性及其家庭品质方面，这幅画毫无疑问是成功的，在沙龙上也得到了同样的评价。

应该说这也是雷诺阿的佳作之一：画面满溢雅致和清新，画中的自由布局非同寻常，各种元素并非画家在自己画室里的自由选择。雷诺阿大胆地将焦点集中在孩子们和狗身上，狗貌似痛苦地转着眼珠，仿佛背负的东西太重。与这些吸睛点形成对比的是，通过各个人物的位置安排和地毯的斜角摆放，观画者的视线被引至右上角，那里有一组精美描绘的细节，还有一个出口，通向远处。为保持构图稳定平衡，让视线相对集中，雷诺阿将黑色连衣裙放置在了画面中心，那黑色如此醒目且丰富多变，通过一种动画剪影式的描绘，把观者视线带到右侧边缘。

黑白色是此画的一大色彩基调，连衣裙和狗就是这两种颜色的组合;蓝色是另一基调。为衬托这两种基调，背景中绘制了珊瑚嵌板，画面其他区域则体现出所有主色的细微差别。