Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon

Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon (zhäN-bätēst`-sēmāôN` shärdăN`), 1699–1779, French painter. He was a major figure of 18th-century painting. While the Académie royale still advocated history painting as the noblest form of art, Chardin painted still lifes and domestic interiors. His ability to evoke textures was extraordinary, as were his muted tones, delicate touch, and unusually abstract compositional skill. His particular ability to render still-life forms naturalistically and simple genre scenes without sentimentality ensured his reputation. A number of modern schools of painting are indebted to the abstract nature of Chardin's compositions. The Louvre has many of his oils and pastel portraits, including Benediction and Return from Market. Blowing Bubbles and a portrait of Mme Chardin are at the Metropolitan Museum. Other paintings are in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Bibliography

See biography by P. Consibee (1985); studies by H. E. A. Furst (1907), G. Wildenstein (1963, repr. 1969), G. Weisberg and W. S. Talbot (1979), and P. Rosenberg (2000).

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Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon

(born Nov. 2, 1699, Paris, France—died Dec. 6, 1779, Paris) French painter. He first received acclaim in 1728, when he became a member of the Royal Academy of Painting in Paris. He became known as a successful painter of still lifes and domestic scenes that were remarkable for their intimate realism, tranquil atmosphere, and luminosity. In his later years he produced stunning pastel portraits. He was the greatest still-life painter of the 18th century, well known in his lifetime through engravings of his work. The meditative quiet of his work contrasts with the spirit of light and superficial brilliance seen in the work of many of his contemporaries. Many 20th-century artists were inspired by the abstract qualities of his compositions.