The Patricides, ‘Each According to Their Own Nature’

1869

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.