Family portrait of Madame Anthony and her children 1785

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon painted this family portrait of Madame Anthony and her children, in Lyon, France. Without a specified date, we can still situate Prud'hon within the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period marked by significant social and political upheaval, including the French Revolution. The portrait offers a glimpse into the domestic life of a bourgeois family during a transformative era. Madame Anthony is depicted as the nurturing core, embodying the era's emphasis on domesticity and motherhood as central to a woman's identity. Yet, this representation exists within a society undergoing radical shifts in gender roles and class structures. The sentimental rendering of the sitters evokes the intimate sphere of the family, set against the backdrop of broader societal changes. The painting delicately balances the personal with the political, reflecting the evolving roles of women and the family unit amidst revolutionary fervor.