![Jean-Baptiste Greuze - The Father’s Curse or The Ungrateful Son [1777]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/14950692484_c85879d95d_o.jpg)
This work depicts a turbulent domestic scene. Its cause is a dispute between a father and his son, who wants to leave the family to join the army. The father wants him to stay, accusing him of disobedience and ingratitude. The other family members throw themselves between the adversaries and implore them to stop arguing. The mother in particular tries to hold her son back and block his exit, but the call of destiny and the thirst for adventure are too strong. The youth has clenched his fist in defiance and readiness for battle and is preparing to follow the soldier waiting in the doorway.
In a formal sense, the emphatic chiaroscuro in which both the figures and the interior are bathed is borrowed from Dutch 17th-century genre paintings. The almost excessively theatrical depiction of this family drama, however, bears a closer resemblance to the Late Baroque paintings of the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste Greuze places the emphasis on a clear moral lesson communicated through the figures’ vehement gestures and facial expressions. As in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the departure of this son is also destined to turn out unhappily.
[Musée du Louvre, Paris - Oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm]