Artsongs: Mme. Charpentier and Her Children (Renoir)

The Well Ordered Home

A vase of flowers and some fruit

With wine and cups to share

Wait in the corner of the room

While restless children sit.

All curled and combed and dressed in blue

The young girls sit amused.

A faithful dog is at their feet,

Their mother sitting near.

Everything in order flows

And gathers in the whole.

A quiet life of comfort seen

To celebrate the home.

With beauty, shelter, food and drink,

Companionship and love;

A life – full circle and complete –

Is held within our view.

The image is more full indeed

Than might at first appear.

For death’s sure exit is proclaimed

By peacock’s graceful pose.

         

                                                ~ CK

_____________________________________
Image: "Madame Charpentier and Her Children" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artist: Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)
Date: 1878
Medium: Oil on Canvas

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