Background
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin was born on November 2, 1699, in Paris, France. He was a son of a cabinetmaker who produced billiard tables.
Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin was born on November 2, 1699, in Paris, France. He was a son of a cabinetmaker who produced billiard tables.
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin received the lessons of academic drawing from the painter Pierre-Jacques Cazes. Then, he became an apprentice of the history painter Noël-Nicolas Coypel.
In 1724, Chardin entered the Académie de Saint-Luc where he pursued his artistic training.
At the beginning of his artistic journey, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin created genre scenes, still lifes and in fact earned his living by producing canvases in different genres depending on the customers’ wishes. The first official commissions came in 1731. They were the work on the restoration of the frescoes at the Galerie François I at Fontainebleau and a couple of decorative panels dubbed Attributes of the Arts and Attributes of the Science made for the Parisian home of the French ambassador to Spain Conrad-Alexandre de Rothenburg.
Chardin presented his artworks to the huge public for the first time in 1737. Since then, he was an active participant of the exposition.
Since the late 1740s, the creation of the new figural genre scenes descended and Jean-Baptiste concentrated on the production of the replicas of his canvases. Due to the reproductions also made by such artists as François-Bernard Lépicié, the art of Chardin obtained popularity. So, in 1757 Louis XV to whom the artist had been introduced in 1740 gifted him a studio and living quarters in the Louvre. Two years later, the painter demonstrated his nine artworks at the Paris Salon. The artworks of the painter were estimated by Denis Diderot.
Later, in 1761, Chardin participated at the Salon as a treasurer and oversaw the installation of the presentation. These new responsibilities provoked the descent of his painting activity.
Although the commissions for still lifes became rare, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin received some at the 1760s due to his reputation, including this from Catherine the Great. The painter had to decorate the overdoor for the lecture hall at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. For this, Chardin created The Attributes of the Arts and Their Rewards (1766).
By the beginning of the 1770s, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin became the first painter of the King and received the enhanced pension at the Academy.
The last period of the painter’s life and career was not as successful as his early and middle years. Chardin somehow lost his popularity because of the changing tastes of the public. Moreover, the new head of the Academy didn’t appreciate the art of the artist – the director’s main goal was to restore historical painting to the first rank. Having the problems with sight, Chardin, however, experimented with pastels and produced some number of portraits, the genre which was not typical for him earlier. Unfortunately, the canvases were not appreciated while their creator was alive.
A Green Neck Duck with a Seville Orange
Silver Goblet
Still Life with Jar of Olives
Pears, Walnuts and Glass of Wine
Still Life with Herrings
Buffet
Portrait of Françoise Marguerite Pouget
Still Life with Dead Pheasant and Hunting Bag
Still life: Fast Day Menu
Rabbit and Copper Pot
Prayer before Meal
Young Schoolmistress
Governess
Scullery Maid
Kitchen Maid
Lady Sealing a Letter
Still Life with Cat and Fish
Duck with an Olive Jar
Instruments of Military Music
Attentive Nurse
House of Cards
House of Cards
Portrait of a child
Hard working Mother
Self-Portrait with Spectacles
Draughtsman
Silver Tureen
Attributes of Art
Cellar Boy
Woman Cleaning Turnips
Young Man with a Violin (Portrait of Charles Theodose Godefroy)
Canary
Ray (Kitchen Interior)
Attributes of the Sciences
Silver Beaker
Still Life with Two Rabbits
Boy with a Top
Jar of Apricots
Instruments of Music Calendar
Besorgerin
Young Draughtsman Сopying an Academy study
Soap Bubbles
Self-portrait Wearing Glasses
Butler’s Table
Portrait of a Young Girl
Still Life, Flowers in a Vase
Morning Toilet
Still Life with a Rib of Beef
Still life
Basket of Peaches
Left Overs of a Lunch (Silver Goblet)
Basket of Plums
Woman Sealing a Letter
Water Tank
Tea drinker
Girl with Racket and Shuttlecock
Still life with Porcelain Teapot
Attributes of Painting and Sculpture
A Lean Diet with Cooking Utensils
Water Glass
Still Life with Pestle, Bowl, Copper Cauldron, Onions and a Knife
Still Life with Glass Flask and Fruit
Still Life with Pipe an Jug
Game Still Life with Hunting Dog
Wild Rabbit with Game Bag and Powder Flask
Woman Drawing Water from an Urn
Laundress
Still Life with Pheasant
Strawberry Basket
Still life with Brioche
Embroiderer
A Game of Billiards
Still Life with Cat and Rayfish
Still Life of Cooking Utensils, Cauldron, Casserole and Eggs
Self-portrait with an Easel
Still life with Turkey Hanged
A Chemist in his Laboratory (Philosopher giving a Lecture)
Quotations:
"I must forget everything I have seen, and even forget the way such objects have been treated by others."
'Who said one paints with colours? One employs colours, but one paints with feeling."
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin was married twice. His first wife became Marguerite Saintard in 1731. The same year, their son, Jean-Pierre came to the world. The boy was followed by a daughter Marguerite-Agnès two years later.
Marguerite died when her firstborn was four, and her daughter passed away within two years.
In 1744, Chardin married Françoise-Marguerite Pouget. The couple had a daughter named Angélique-Françoise born the following year. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive her first year.
Jean-Pierre Chardin followed his father’s steps and chose a career of a painter. In 1754, he received the Grand Prix from the Academy of Painting. His life ended tragically – in 1767 he committed suicide.