Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1698–1779) — a French artist who, during his long life, painted many remarkable paintings that became the pride of many museums around the world. Many aristocrats and even monarchs, such as Louis XV and Catherine II, commissioned paintings from him, but he was truly remembered by his descendants not as the author of pompous formal portraits, but of paintings of simple, common people, with all their joys and sorrows, virtues and shortcomings.
The Peddler. Returning from the Market
Perhaps his paintings are not yet an attempt to show all the offended and oppressed, as our wonderful Itinerants did, but the fact that Chardin paid attention to the common people is worth a lot, since he could hardly count on a decent income from the sale of such paintings. But this was a call of the heart, not the mind, Chardin was simply interested in painting everyday scenes from the life of the people, and he himself had the most plebeian origin.
Prayer before dinner
Chardin's father worked as a cabinetmaker, making furniture and billiard tables, and early on began to involve his son in his craft. But Chardin began to show talent for painting, so he was first sent to study with the artist Nicolas Coypel. The training then was more like , which the masters themselves considered beneath their dignity. So Chardin prepared the canvases, ground the paints, and then finished painting small details on Coypel's paintings, mainly still lifes. Incidentally, this is where his love for this genre came from.
Still life with works of art
Chardin showed considerable success, so he went to study with a more gifted artist - Louis Michel Van Loo, with whom he worked on restoring the paintings of the royal residence.
And this was a kind of pass to the "major league". It was possible to paint portraits of courtiers and paintings on mythological subjects, which were highly valued at that time, but Chardin was bored with all this. But he found recognition in small genre scenes from the life of ordinary people, perhaps because he himself had repeatedly observed them in person, which is why they were distinguished by their particular authenticity.
Rod
One of his first popular works was a surgeon's sign - at that time, good signs were a full-fledged picture and served as excellent advertising, so the owners did not skimp on them. Chardin depicted a crowd that had gathered around a wounded man and only a surgeon quickly and skillfully provided the necessary assistance.
He also painted still lifes, which became his "calling card" and brought him his first fame. Chardin even managed to become a member of the Academy of Arts, and this was while working in the "low genre" of still life and everyday scenes.
Still life with pomegranates and grapes
He was in good standing at the Academy, and rose to the prestigious position of treasurer, since he was good at counting money - his simple origins and the need to carefully control his expenses had an effect. But his best works are everyday scenes and portraits of the bourgeoisie, and even ordinary women: laundresses, needlewomen, dishwashers, and they were painted with great human sympathy. The artist admired their hard work, their ability to be content with little, to find joy in simple things and activities. There was no empty pathos and arrogant floridity as in many other portraits of aristocrats at that time, Chardin painted real, not idealized life and real people at that time. "We paint with feelings, and we use paints," said Chardin, and his feelings were clearly on the side of ordinary people.
A cook peeling a rutabaga
But Chardin's personal life was not all that successful, there were real tragedies in it. His first wife and daughter died, and the artist himself was left with only a small son. Then he married a second time, but in that marriage he also lost his daughter early from his second wife. Child mortality was very high at that time, so this was the order of the day. But even his only surviving son, who grew up to adulthood, who followed his father's example and became an artist, went to Italy and disappeared without a trace there. Perhaps he was attacked by local bandits or crossed the path of an overly hot and arrogant Italian macho.
Boy with a Top. Portrait of Auguste Gabriel Godefroy II
But despite all this, Chardin painted joyful and cheerful pictures, where he often depicted women and children who were quite content with life. They are lyrical and at the same time reproduce the real truth of life without the arrogant aristocracy that Chardin always openly disliked.Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
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