3-034-804 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"La Soupe", by Edward Caslon, 1871. Engraving of a painting. 'In the cottage interior before us the "tureen"...is evidently dispensed with. The soup is being ladelled direct from the black pot into the family plates and basins; and, by that pretty custom which obtains in humble families, the little ones are to be helped first, instead of being permitted to come down from the nursery only at the end of the repast. Jeannette, the mère, you see, is commencing with the very youngest, always the most impatient; the boy knows he must wait his turn, but, with his spoon in readiness, he will quickly make up for lost time. Jean, the père, is still more patient: placidly he sits in a dream of pleasant anticipation! A model husband that! How many would have been pacing the room like wolves or tigers during the last five minutes! As for Jeannette herself, no one knows when the mère-de-famille finds time to eat. It is the usage, in humble French country life, to prepare the pot-au-feu in the morning, and leave it to simmer for hours on the long-smouldering wood embers, while the peasant proprietors, both male and female, are engaged at field labour...our Engraving is from a photograph of the picture published by Messrs. Goupil'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.