Jean-Siméon Chardin, French, 1699-1779
Title: A Still Life: Two Rabbits, a Grey Partridge, Game Bag and a Powder Flask
Date: 1731
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
82.5 x 65 cm
Signed: lower right: Chardin 1731
Credit Line: Bequeathed, Sir Hugh Lane, 1918
Object Number: NGI.799
DescriptionAlthough largely self-taught, Jean-Siméon Chardin was a regular exhibitor at the Salon and was admitted into the Académie in 1728. For much of his career he specialised in still lifes depicting fish, game and kitchen utensils, focusing exclusively on such scenes until c.1730. Thereafter he painted figurative works, mainly genre scenes set in domestic interiors, before returning to still-life subjects once more around 1750.
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
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
ProvenancePossibly at Lempereur sale, 24 May 1773, lot 97; Wildenstein collection; Sir Hugh Lane; bequeathed, Sir Hugh Lane, 1918
Exhibition HistoryPictures by Old Masters Given and Bequeathed to the National Gallery of Ireland by the Late Sir Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1918
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
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
Label TextPainted three years after he became a member of the French Academy, this is one of Chardin’s last still-life pictures. For the rest of his career he concentrated on painting interior genre subjects. Although still life was regarded as a lesser type of painting, Chardin’s honesty of vision and carefully worked compositions of simple objects garnered him many admirers. Soft grey and brown tones are used for the animals which harmonizes with the blue petals of tumbling honeysuckle flowers and evoke a melancholic atmosphere.