This work is regarded as the last painting of dead game that Chardin made in the early phase of his career. It shows rabbits, a partridge, a game bag and a powder flask set on a deep stone ledge. The composition is arranged in a pyramid shape, with the bound feet of the animals at its apex. Tendrils of honeysuckle creep in to the scene from the left side. The picture demonstrates Chardin’s skill in conveying the varied textures of fur, feathers, stone and foliage. His characteristic use of soft grey and brown tones along with his application of chiaroscuro gives the composition a harmonious effect. During the eighteenth century, the official art world regarded still life as a lesser genre. Chardin’s reputation contributed to the gradual revision of this view and his work was greatly admired by both realist artists and critics in the nineteenth century.
March 2016
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
France in the Eighteenth Century, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1968
Chardin 1699-1779, Grand Palais, Paris, 29 January 1979 - 30 April 1979; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 6 June 1979 - 12 August 1979; Museum of Fine Art, Boston, 11 September 1979 - 19 November 1979
From Titian to Delacroix: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama, 25 August - 17 October 1993; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, Chiba, 10 November - 20 December 1993; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 5 January - 20 February 1994; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, 25 February - 10 April 1994; Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 14 April - 24 May 1994
European Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, Canberra, 25 June 1994 - 3 October 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Adelaide, 21 October 1994 - 15 January 1995
Chardin, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 7 September 1999 - 22 November 1999; Kunstmuseum and Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, 5 December 1999 - 20 February 2000
Chardin, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, 17 October 2010 - 30 January 2011; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1 March - 29 May 2011
Von Poussin bis Monet. Die Farben Frankreichs, The Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, 22 March - 6 September 2015; Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 10 October 2015 - 17 January 2016