The Patricides, ‘Each According to Their Own Nature’

• As the Old Sing, Twitter the Young
• The Patricides, ‘Each According to Their Own Nature’

De vadermoorders

SK-A-1009

signature and date: ‘David Bles f. 69’

Just as cats instinctively chase mice, so do these children playing war resemble their father, who is in the armed forces. The Bible on the lectern is more in keeping with his wife and the youngest child, who do not join in the fray. With this painting Bles may have meant to show that a harmonious family can include members with different dispositions, in which some children take after their father, and others their mother.

A.M.E.L. Hoogenboom, 'Zo de ouden zongen, piepen de jongen of de Vadermoorders? Over David Bles en Jan Steen', in: S. de Bodt, J. Reynaerts en J. de Vries (red.), Studiecollectie : Interpretaties van kunst uit de negentiende en twintigste eeuw : Dertien opstellen voor Evert van Uitert, Amsterdam 2001, p. 43-50.

painter: David Bles

1869

olieverf op paneel

height 49 cm x width 67 cm

purchase 1869

Public domain

• A.M.E.L. Hoogenboom, 'Zo de ouden zongen, piepen de jongen of de Vadermoorders? Over David Bles en Jan Steen', in: S. de Bodt, J. Reynaerts en J. de Vries (red.), Studiecollectie : Interpretaties van kunst uit de negentiende en twintigste eeuw : Dertien opstellen voor Evert van Uitert, Amsterdam 2001, p. 43-50.
• Correspondentie David Bles aan F.D.O. Obreen, Den Haag, 26 juni 1886, Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem, Archief Rijksmuseum, nr. 166.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/20026644