Famille 1845 - 1901

François-Nicolas Chifflart made this print, titled ‘Famille’, in France using etching. The print depicts a domestic scene of apparent tranquility, showing a working-class couple with their child. Chifflart was trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and, later, became an instructor there. Throughout his career, he focused on the lives of ordinary people. He also received commissions to produce official portraits and historical scenes for the French government. In the 19th century, the French government played an increasingly important role in shaping artistic production. Institutions like the École des Beaux-Arts, and the Salon system through which art was publicly exhibited, maintained a conservative approach. Chifflart’s quiet, intimate portrayal of the family as a social unit speaks to a certain sentimentality that would have appealed to the artistic establishment. To understand this work more fully, we might consult Salon exhibition catalogues, collection records of the École des Beaux-Arts, and other primary source documents of nineteenth-century France. Doing so will reveal the power of institutions to shape both the production and reception of art.