Jean Siméon Chardin

Chardin, Jean Baptiste Siméon

French, 1699 - 1779

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painter from France (1699-1779)

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Three apples and two pears sit next to a knife and a luminous, white mug on a tan, stone surface before a muted, olive-green background in this horizontal still life painting. The objects and background are painted with blended strokes, giving the painting a soft, glowing appearance. At the center of the ledge or table, the apples are dappled with candy red and pale yellow. Two golden and moss-green pears are to our left, one upright and the other lying with its stem coming toward us. The fruit is painted with white highlights from a light source to our left. The cream-white mug sits next to the apples to our right. The mug has straight sides, a low band near the top and bottom, and the handle curves out to our right. Between the apples and mug, the black handle of a knife angles to our right, off the edge of the table. Shadows are painted in brick red on the surface of the table, which extends off both sides of the canvas. There is a vertical seam in the table under the upright pear.
Jean Siméon Chardin, Still Life with a White Mug, c. 1764, oil on canvas, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, 1972.9.6

Still Life with a White Mug

Jean Siméon Chardin · c. 1764 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.9.6

An orange and the bodies of a large fowl and two rabbits on a brown ledge nearly span the width of this square still life painting. The face of the ledge takes up the bottom quarter of the composition. Near the left edge of the canvas, the orange has a stem with dark green leaves. Next to it, near the center of the composition, the bird lies face up with its sapphire-blue head and neck draped down backward over the face of the ledge. The rest of its body is rust red, gray, and brown, and its tail feathers are angled up toward the top right corner of the canvas. The two rabbits have silver-grey fur tinged with muted golden yellow. They lie, one atop the other, to our right of the fowl. Their eyes are closed, and a drop of dark red blood drips from the mouth of the rabbit underneath. The ledge is caramel brown, and the wall behind is mottled with ginger brown and putty grey. The artist signed the lower left, “chardin.”
Jean Siméon Chardin, Still Life with Game, probably 1750s, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.36

Still Life with Game

Jean Siméon Chardin · probably 1750s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.36

A pale-skinned woman stands holding a spoon and egg, and bracing a long-handled pan in one elbow, in front of a wooden table near a fireplace mantle in this vertical painting. The scene is brightly lit from our left, and the background falls into shadow. To the right of center, the woman wears a hip-length, white jacket patterned with large, rose-pink dots over a long skirt with vertical stripes of peach, shell and carnation pink, white, and tawny brown. A knee-length, petal-pink apron is pinned to the front of her dress. A frilled white bonnet covers her hair, and she wears fern-green, high-heeled, slip-on shoes. Her body faces our left almost in profile. She holds a silver spoon in her right hand as she peels the egg she holds in the other. A white cloth with a powder-blue stripe is draped over her left arm, which is bent to cradle the long handle of a pot. She stands in front of the table, which angles away from us. The end of the table closest to us is covered with a white cloth under a round loaf of bread, a tall, sky-blue pitcher, a shallow bowl with another egg and a pewter egg cup inside, and a large knife with a wooden handle. A mahogany-red pot with its cover askew sits at her feet. Behind the woman and to our right, the mantle and fireplace is cut off by the right edge of the canvas. A wooden ladderback chair peeks out from beyond the mantle, and a tall, covered, olive-green pitcher sits on the floor in front of it. A stoppered flagon and two bowls sit on the corner of the mantle. The wall and floor are fawn brown, darkening in shadow toward the back and left of the room.
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Attentive Nurse, 1747, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.37

The Attentive Nurse

Jean Siméon Chardin · 1747 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.37

An older girl and a younger child, both with pale skin, bend toward each other as they look at a book spread open on a wooden cupboard in this nearly square painting. Shown from the hips up to our right, the girl leans over the cupboard with her body facing our left in profile. She looks at the child peering over the low ledge at the back of the cupboard with her head tilted slightly in that direction. The older girl has a straight, delicate nose, her smooth cheeks are flushed, and her rosy-red lips are pursed. Her brown hair is tucked under a bright white, ruffled cap encircled with a gold and cranberry-red ribbon. The long sleeves of the muted sapphire-blue dress seem to have been rolled back along the forearms to reveal cascading, white cuffs. A translucent white neckerchief, like a short, full scarf, is tucked into an ivory-white apron that also covers the flaring skirt. With both hands on the open book, she points to one page with a metal pointer like a knitting needle. Facing us, the smaller child looks at the book from behind the wood cupboard, eyes downcast, resting one forearm on the surface and pointing to a detail in the book. The child has delicate brows, a short, wide nose, and full raspberry-red lips are closed. The padded cap the child wears covers the ears and is loosely painted with a pattern of honey brown, silvery white, and slate blue. The nutmeg-brown sleeves are pushed back along the forearm and there are white cuffs or sleeves beneath. The cupboard has two diamond-shaped, iron-gray metal pulls in front. Light illuminating the pair from our left creates a greenish glow on the tawny-brown background behind them.
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Little Schoolmistress, after 1740, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.91

The Little Schoolmistress

Jean Siméon Chardin · after 1740 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.91

A young woman, holding a knife and vegetable in her lap and wearing a clay-brown jacket over a long, poppy-red skirt, sits on a wooden ladderback chair angled to our right in the center of this vertical painting. She has pale skin with cheeks and lips flushed deep pink. A white cap covers her upswept hair, and a sea-blue and tan neckerchief drapes around her neck. She hunches forward slightly and gazes to our right with parted lips. Her hands rest in her lap, and she holds a knife in her right hand and a white root vegetable in her left. Her lap is draped with an ivory-white cloth, speckled with tan spots that continue onto the hem of her red skirt and the floor. A copper-brown bowl with a flaring lip and a peacock-blue interior sits on the floor at her feet with several irregular white shapes lying inside, presumably peeled vegetables. To her left, our right, is a log-like section of a thick tree trunk with a cleaver embedded in it. The handle of a copper pan leans against the block. The bottom of that pan is propped up against a deep blue-gray bowl with a gold-colored interior. Light coming from the upper left gleams on the edges of the cookware and illuminates a spatter of tomato red on the surface of the chopping block. In the lower left, a handful of dirt-brown tubers are piled near an orange pumpkin or gourd, which is cut off by the edge of the painting. The floor and wall behind the woman are peanut brown washed with thin layers of slate blue. The artist signed and dated the painting in black on the wall above the chopping block, “Chardin 1738.”
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Kitchen Maid, 1738, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.38

The Kitchen Maid

Jean Siméon Chardin · 1738 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.38

A pale-skinned young woman stands holding a long-handled pot over an open barrel in this vertical painting. The woman faces our left in profile and leans slightly over the thigh-high barrel. The barrel is tinged with moss green, and it has a hole in the side facing us. The woman’s smooth cheeks and lips are tinged with rose red. She has a slender nose, and she looks off to our left with brown eyes. Her jacket, long skirt, and cap are all white, and her apron is light peach. A gold object, like a pendant or bell, dangles from a teal-blue ribbon around her neck. The long handle of the pot is tucked under her bent left arm, and she grasps the handle where it attaches to the pan. Her right hand reaches into the pot, which dips down beneath the lip of the barrel. The woman and the barrel take up most of the height of the composition. Clustered on the floor to the left of the barrel are three vessels, including a tall cylindrical container painted in copper brown with crimson-red streaks, a large brass pot lying on its side so we see its shiny interior, and brick-red pan with a long iron handle that ends in a hook. To our right, a peach-colored clay pot with bands of forest and sage green sits on the floor just behind the woman, with its short handle angled to our right. Light coming from the upper left glints on the edges and interiors of the pots and illuminates the woman. The floor is washed with laurel green and spruce blue, with strokes of mustard yellow. The back wall is mottled in caramel brown and smoke gray.
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Scullery Maid, c. 1738, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection), 2014.79.708

The Scullery Maid

Jean Siméon Chardin · c. 1738 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.79.708

Shown from about the lap up, a young person with brown hair and a peachy complexion faces our left in profile as he leans onto a table and sets folded playing cards up in a row in this vertical painting. Shown against a dark background, his long, brown hair curls by his ears and is pulled back with a navy-blue ribbon at the nape of his neck. He has a delicately sloping nose, his pink lips are closed, the cheek facing us is flushed, and he looks down at the tabletop under lowered lids. He wears a chestnut-brown, long-sleeved coat with a dark blue sash across his chest and tied around his waist. The white of his undershirt peeks out at the high neck and wrists, and the brick-red lining of the sleeve of his jacket rolls back at his right wrist. The wooden table is lined with teal-blue fabric on its surface, and three coins lie near his left hand, closer to us. In that hand he holds three nested, vertically folded playing cards. With his right hand he places the last in a line of ten cards, standing vertically but close together like dominoes, in a curving row in front of him. Scarlet-red diamonds and hearts and the edges of some black shapes are visible within the bent cards. A jack of hearts and a piece of paper or the back of another card sit in a drawer that opens toward us along the side of the table. The artist signed the work in dark brown paint in the lower right corner: “J. Chardin.”
Jean Siméon Chardin, The House of Cards, probably 1737, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.90

The House of Cards

Jean Siméon Chardin · probably 1737 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.90

A young man and child, both with pale skin, are framed within the rectangular opening of a stone window in this vertical painting. At the center, the young man leans toward us over his forearms, which rest on the wide ledge. Angled to our right, he holds a long straw to his mouth to blow a large, glistening bubble that hangs on the opposite end. A second straw rests in a glass cup filled with white liquid, presumably soapy water, that sits near his right elbow, on our left, and he looks down at the bubble. His chestnut-brown hair is tied back with a black ribbon, and curls hang down from his temple. He wears a brown jacket over a white shirt. A younger child peeks over the ledge to our right and also looks at the bubble. Seen from the nose up, the child wears a hat that curves up and over the crown of the head. The face of the brown stone building into which the window is cut seems close to us. A vine of ivy climbs up the face of the building to our left.
Jean Siméon Chardin, Soap Bubbles, probably 1733/1734, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson, 1942.5.1

Soap Bubbles

Jean Siméon Chardin · probably 1733/1734 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.5.1

Light from the upper left falls across a glass, a pitcher, peaches in a basket, and other fruit arranged along a brown tabletop or ledge in this horizontal still life painting. The arrangement fills the height and width of the composition, and the table and most of the back wall are mottled with pecan brown and fern green. The background along the left edge of the composition is in deep shadow behind a translucent, wide-mouthed glass. Thin streaks of pale pink and white create reflections in the glass, and a brown hazelnut sits next to it. Moving right and a little farther back on the table, a tall, cinnamon-brown jug is turned so its handle faces us. A low, woven basket piled with at least six peaches sits next to the jug, filling most of the right half of the painting. The basket is lined with pine-green leaves, and the peaches have butter-yellow highlights. Three pieces of fruit sit on the table in front of the basket and jug: two small, frosty green, round pieces are connected by a shared stem and the larger, third piece of fruit is plum purple.
Jean Siméon Chardin, Fruit, Jug, and a Glass, c. 1726/1728, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.4

Fruit, Jug, and a Glass

Jean Siméon Chardin · c. 1726/1728 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.7.4

Bibliography

1933

  • Wildenstein, Georges. Chardin. Paris, 1933.

1979

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. Chardin, 1699-1779. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Cleveland, 1979.

1986

  • Conisbee, Philip. Chardin. Oxford, 1986.

1994

  • Roland Michel, Marianne. Chardin. Paris, 1994.

1999

  • Rosenberg, Pierre, and Renaud Temperini. Chardin. Paris, 1999.

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: 58.