Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin: Cozy everyday scenes. Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin - biography and paintings Chardin return from the market description of the painting

A brief biography and description of some famous paintings by the master.

short biography

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699, Paris – 1779, Paris) was a student of Noël Nicolas Coypel, an artist who wrote on historical themes, and Pierre Jacques Caza. His mentor was also Jean-Baptiste van Loo, a representative of the Fontainebleau school. In 1724, Chardin was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, and in 1728 to the Royal Academy of Arts, where he held a high position until 1774. With his characteristic poetic power, Chardin painted still lifes and genre scenes, devoid of any striking effects or symbols. The consistent, soft coloring, the seemingly arbitrary selection of depicted objects and the absence of light accents reveal the influence of Dutch painting, the principles of which Chardin organically combined with the achievements of French masters. He managed to bring still life and genre painting, which had not previously enjoyed much popularity, to first place in a kind of pictorial table of ranks.

Creation

Boy playing with cards, around 1740. Oil on canvas, 82*66 cm. Uffizi, Florence.
The artist filled children's portraits with quiet poetry and the charm of bottomlessness. Despite the apparent closeness of the character, the boy remains inaccessible to the viewer. He is shown in profile and appears completely engrossed in the game. His calm posture, playing cards and half-open drawer indicate the kinship of this genre painting with still life.

Artist, 1737. Oil on canvas, 81*64 cm. Louvre, Paris.
Following the example of Dutch artists of the 17th century, Chardin painted children's portraits in calm colors, emphasizing the ease of the scenes depicted in them. The young artist presented in the picture is passionate about his work and completely immersed in his thoughts. As in still lifes, the artist accurately conveys the essence of the chosen moment. Chardin masterfully displayed the beauty of a person without obscuring or emphasizing it with additional circumstances.

Still life with a stingray, 1727–1728. Oil on canvas, 114*146 cm. Louvre, Paris.
The painting was presented at the entrance exam to the Academy. The subject of the still life became the reason for treating Chardin as “an artist who paints animals and fruits.” Despite following the Dutch school, the author’s individuality is already visible in the film. The artist's sense of the materiality of objects, which have a certain aesthetic impact, despite the overt realism, is obvious. However, a thoughtful composition allows the artist to seem to distance the depicted objects from the audience.

Still life with pipes and drinking vessels, circa 1762. Oil on canvas, 32*42 cm. Louvre, Paris.
This later painting indicates a change in the artist’s creative style. It’s as if the objects randomly displayed on the table are painted in dim, muted colors and immersed in twilight. The artist contrasts the materials from which they are made, this is facilitated by the contrast between the verticals and horizontals of the composition. This is how external calm and internal dynamism are intertwined.

Attributes of the Arts, 1765. Oil on canvas, 112*140.5 cm. Louvre, Paris.
Chardin sought to reveal the essence of art. A palette with paints and a brush symbolize painting, a figurine of Mercury - sculpture, drawing and drawing supplies - architecture. The artist considered universal recognition to be the criterion for assessing mastery, as evidenced by the order on the moire ribbon. Light in the painting plays an independent role, which is unusual in Chardin’s style. In the fragment, the contrast between the strongly and dimly lit areas gives volume and texture to the statue of Mercury putting on winged sandals.

Jean Baptiste Chardin. Life and art. updated: January 22, 2018 by: Gleb

Chardin (Chardin) Jean Baptiste Simeon (1699-1779), French painter. Still lifes, everyday scenes from the life of the third estate, portraits are marked by the naturalness of the images, the masterful rendering of light and air, and the materiality of objects (“The Copper Tank,” ca. 1733; “The Laundress,” ca. 1737).

Chardin (Chardin) Jean Baptiste Simeon (November 2, 1699, Paris - January 6, 1779, ibid.), French painter. A famous master of still life and everyday scenes, one of the creators of a new portrait concept in European painting of the Age of Enlightenment. One of the first among French masters to turn to the genre type of portrait, which was an important stage in the development of painting of the 18th century, as well as the realistic everyday genre. Both of these directions are the same process - the search for naturalness and humanity in art as opposed to the official ceremonial art of Rococo.

Early period (1730-50)

The son of a carpenter. He studied with the academic painter P. Zh. Kaz and at the school of the Academy of Arts. He spent his entire life in Paris, never leaving. In 1724 he acquired the honorary title of member of the Roman Academy of San Luca, in 1828 - member of the Royal Academy of Paris, presenting the canvas “Scat”. By this time he was already known as a master of still life and everyday scenes. In 1731 he married Françoise Marguerite Sentar, and in the same year his son was born. In the 1730s, Chardin turned to the genre type of portrait. He did not like to create works for official orders, preferring to depict people of his circle. The painter of the third estate, Chardin, always followed a real life motive in his works. He gave significance to the image, telling a leisurely story about an everyday event, about objects associated with a person’s environment, and sought to show the inner dignity of the models. This corresponded to the ethical ideas of the artist, confident in his views on life.

In the scene “Prayer before dinner” (1738, Louvre) he tells in detail about a man and the leisurely flow of his daily life. The genre portrait “in the Dutch spirit” depicting the artist J. Aveda, known as “The Chemist in His Laboratory” (1734, Louvre), is reminiscent of the works of Wermeer of Delft, the paintings of the “little Dutchmen”. Turning to the work of these masters was natural on the path of the search for French masters of the democratic trend. In this painting by Chardin, the interior is of great importance. The brush of a still life master painted the setting, objects surrounding the figure, books, dishes. Chardin loved to portray children, in whose images he was attracted by spontaneity, spiritual purity, and inner liveliness. Serious concentration in music, reading, blowing soap bubbles, playing cards, and drawing is emphasized in the images “Child with a Spinning Top” (1734, Louvre), “Portrait of Jean Godefroy” (1734, Louvre). Chardin’s genre portraits always have a strong domestic element. However, the image itself is not dissolved in it. The individuality of the model is important to the artist. Based on the observed nature, he looks in it not for a fleeting expression of feelings, not for psychological complexity, but for a more general, typical one, which allows him to create a portrait of a person in his environment, to talk about his way of life. The artist’s surviving statement is noteworthy: “Who told you that they write with paints? They use paints, but write with feeling.” Behind the external slowness of the narrative is hidden the artist’s deep emotional comprehension of the image (person or object), which allows him to involve the viewer in the sphere of his own vision of nature, inspired by his feeling.

Since 1737, Chardin became a permanent participant in the Paris Salons. His works are popular with marchands (art dealers) and critics. enthusiastically writes about him: “Here is someone who knows how to create harmony of colors and light and shade! You don’t know which of these paintings to choose - they are equally perfect... This is nature itself, if we talk about the truthfulness of shapes and colors.” Chardin's canvases are always executed in soft colors. The main achievement of his coloring were color reflexes, which created a single tonal sound of colors. Thanks to their soft harmony, a picturesque connection between plastically volumetric objects is achieved, and a feeling of spiritual unity of a person and his environment is born. Desudéportes, commissioned by the director of the Office of Royal Buildings, the Marquis of Marigny, “Attributes of Music” and “Attributes of the Arts” (1765, Louvre) are examples of the highest coloristic skill of Chardin. Looking at them, you feel the real flesh of the objects. The finest nuances of color are brought to a single coloristic sound. The truthfully conveyed “dead nature” is raised by the artist to the level of high generalization.

Late period (1769-79)

The last decade of the artist’s work was overshadowed by resignation from the Academy, weakened eyesight, and less public attention. However, the works created during this period became striking works of French painting of the 18th century. During these years, Chardin turned to pastel, creating true masterpieces in this new technique - “Portrait of a Wife” (1775, Louvre) and “Self-Portrait with a Green Visor” (1775, Louvre). Wanting to support the aging artist, Diderot spoke with praise of his first pastels, presented at the Salon in 1771 (among them was “Self-Portrait”, 1771, Louvre). “The same confident hand and the same eyes, accustomed to seeing nature,” the critic wrote. Chardin's late portraits marked a new stage in his art. Intimate genre motifs are now excluded by the artist. He moves away from the type of genre portrait, and, trying to rise to a deeper generalization, gives not only a lyrical story about a man of the third estate. Chardin turns to intimate forms of portraiture, which is new in the art of this genre. He is interested in the model's face. The image of Madame Chardin reveals the entire way of life of the artist’s wife, with her existence full of domestic worries and deprivations. A satin housecoat and cap do not detract from the noble appearance of a formerly beautiful woman. Light light strokes on a dark base convey the shiny surface of the fabrics and their different textures. The artist also presented himself in home clothes in “Self-Portrait with a Green Visor.” The details depicted tell about his profession. Chardin paints himself from the chest, highlighting in relief by turning his head to the front and the color of his face. The headband on which the visor is attached and the neck scarf tied in a loose knot are not decorative details. These are attributes of strict and comfortable professional clothing. The calm, penetrating gaze from under the visor is also characteristic of the artist. The meager color scheme - reddish-brown, white, gray-blue - is complemented by their subtle tonal nuances, and the interpenetration of colors creates a dim, chamber-sounding coloring of the portrait. The possibilities of intimate characterization are maximally used in Chardin’s late portraits. The artist's pastels from the 1770s complete a certain era in the development of French portraiture.

Chardin's painting revealed the heightened sensitivity of the Age of Enlightenment to finding subtlety in the most ordinary things. She clearly embodied Diderot’s command to “look into reality and not try to decorate it.” His works, having fulfilled their historical task, anticipated future discoveries in the realistic portrait of such major masters as M. Quentin de La Tour, O. Fragonard, J. L. David.

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) - French painter, one of the most famous artists of the 18th century and one of the best colorists in the history of painting, famous for his work in the field of still life and genre painting.

Biography of Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin

A student of Pierre-Jacques Caze and Noël Coypel, Chardin was born and spent his entire life in the Parisian quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. There is no evidence that he ever visited outside the French capital. Helping Coypel create accessories in his paintings, he acquired the extraordinary art of depicting inanimate objects of all kinds and decided to devote himself exclusively to their reproduction.

Creativity of Chardin

He early became known to the Parisian public as an excellent master of still life. This happened largely thanks to the Parisian “exhibition of debutants”, which took place at the Place Dauphine. So, in 1728, he presented several paintings there, including the still life “Scat”. The painting so impressed Nicolas de Largilliere, an honorary member of the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture, that he invited the young artist to exhibit his works within the walls of the academy.

Subsequently, the painter insisted that Chardin compete for a place at the Academy. Already in September, his candidacy was accepted, and he was included in the lists as “a painter of flowers, fruits and genre scenes.”

Having a perfect knowledge of color relationships, Chardin had a keen sense of the interconnection of objects and the originality of their structure.

Diderot admired the skill with which the artist makes one feel the movement of juices under the skin of the fruit. Chardin saw many shades in the color of an object and conveyed them with small strokes. Its white color is woven from similar shades. The gray and brown tones that Chardin owned were unusually numerous. The rays of light penetrating the canvas give the object clarity and definition.

The paintings of genre painting, distinguished by their naive simplicity of content, strength and harmony of colors, softness and richness of the brush, even more than Chardin’s previous works, set him apart from the ranks of his contemporary artists and secured for him one of the prominent places in the history of French painting. In 1728 he was assigned to the Paris Academy of Arts, in 1743 he was elected to its advisor, and in 1750 he assumed the position of its treasurer; in addition, since 1765 he was a member of the Rouen Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts.

In works of different years and different genres, such as “The Washerwoman” (1737), “Jar of Olives” (1760) or “Attributes of the Arts” (1766), Chardin always remains an excellent draftsman and colorist, an artist of “quiet life”, a poet everyday life; his gaze and gentle gaze inspires the most ordinary objects.

In the last years of his life, Chardin turned to pastel and created several magnificent portraits (self-portrait, 1775), in which he showed his inherent emotional subtlety, but also his ability for psychological analysis.

Encyclopedists did a lot to spread Chardin’s fame, contrasting his “bourgeois” art with court artists who were “cut off from the people” - masters of erotic and pastoral vignettes in the Rococo spirit.

Diderot compared his skill to witchcraft:

“Oh, Chardin, this is not the white, red and black paints that you rub on your palette, but the very essence of objects; you take air and light at the tip of your brush and apply it to the canvas!”

Artist's works

• Madame Chardin
• Cook peeling turnips
• Laundresses
• Card castle
• Prayer before lunch
• Girl reading a letter
• Attributes of art
• Still life with a turkey
• Still life with fruit
• Still life
• Copper water tank
• Hard working mother

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin(fr. Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin; -) - French painter, one of the most famous artists of the 18th century and one of the best colorists in the history of painting, famous for his work in the field of still life and genre painting.

In his work, the artist deliberately avoided the solemn and pastoral-mythological subjects characteristic of the art of his time. The main subject of his still lifes and genre scenes, based entirely on field observations and which were essentially hidden portraits, was the everyday home life of people from the so-called third estate, conveyed in a calm, sincere and truthful manner. Chardin, whose work as an artist marked the heyday of realism in the 18th century, continued the traditions of the Dutch and Flemish masters of still life and the everyday genre of the 17th century, enriching this tradition and introducing a touch of grace and naturalness into his work.

Biography and creativity

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Born on November 2
• Born in 1699
• Died December 6
• Died in 1779
• Artists by alphabet
• Born in Paris
• Died in Paris
• Artists of France

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Chardin, Jean Baptiste Simeon- Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin. CHARDIN Jean Baptiste Simeon (1699 1779), French painter. Still lifes, everyday scenes from the life of the third estate, portraits are marked by the naturalness of the images, the masterful rendering of light and air, materiality... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Chardin) (1699 1779), French painter. Representative of the realistic movement in French art of the 18th century. The son of a carpenter. He studied with P. J. Kaz, N. N. Coipel and J. B. Vanloo. Chardin's early works are characterized by decorative... ... Art encyclopedia

- (Chardin) (1699 1779), French painter. Still lifes, everyday scenes from the life of the third estate, portraits are marked by the naturalness of the images, the masterful rendering of light and air, the materiality of objects (“The Copper Tank,” circa 1733; “The Laundress,” ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin Self-portrait Date of birth: November 2, 1699 Place of birth: Paris ... Wikipedia

JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARDIN

Chardin was the greatest realist artist of his time.

Renu wrote in his obituary: “One can’t help but think that he had eyes arranged like a prism to distinguish different colors of objects, subtle transitions from light to shadow. No one mastered the magic of chiaroscuro better than him.”

Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin was born on November 2, 1699 in Paris, in the family of a master woodcarver who performed complex artistic work.

His parents were sympathetic to his first successes in drawing, and then sent their son to study painting in the workshop of Pierre Jacques Caza. For several years, he copied paintings here, including works of church content.

He received his first real lessons in the workshop of Noel Nicolas Coipel. By helping his teacher create accessories in his paintings, he acquired the extraordinary skill of depicting all kinds of inanimate objects.

One of his teachers was the artist J.-B. Vanloo, who attracted Chardin to work on the restoration of frescoes in the Fontainebleau Palace. Then the young artist entered the Paris Academy of St. Bows to improve in the still life genre. In 1724 he acquired the honorary title of member of this Academy. He first exhibited several of his works at an exhibition of young artists in 1728. The paintings "Scat" (1727) and "Buffet" (1728) were a huge success and opened the doors for Chardin to the Royal Academy, where he was accepted as a "painter of flowers, fruits and characteristic subjects."

The thirties and forties were the heyday of the artist’s creativity. Remaining true to his style, Chardin was inspired by the art of the Dutch masters of genre painting, the paintings of David Teniers and Gerard Dou. Chardin creates the best genre compositions, which for the first time in French art depicted a completely new world - the life of the third estate: “Lady Sealing a Letter” (1732), “House of Cards” (circa 1737), “Woman Peeling Vegetables” (1738), “Laundress” "(around 1737), "The Needlewoman", "Returning from the Market" (1739), "The Governess" (1739), "The Hardworking Mother" (1740), "Prayer before Dinner" (1744).

Since 1737, Chardin became a permanent participant in the Paris Salons. His works are popular with marchands (art dealers) and critics. Diderot writes enthusiastically about him: “Here is someone who knows how to create harmony of colors and light and shade! You don’t know which of these paintings to choose - they are equally perfect... This is nature itself, if we talk about the truthfulness of shapes and colors.” At the Salon of 1738, Chardin showed the paintings “Child Boy” and “Dishwasher” (both 1738), as well as two portraits – “Boy with a Top” and “Young Man with a Violin” (both 1738).

Most often the artist depicted women and children. A hardworking housewife, a loving mother, a caring governess or children with their spontaneity and innocent fun - these are the main characters of Chardin. Thus, the painting “The Laundress” depicts a woman washing clothes and a boy sitting next to her blowing soap bubbles through a straw. The glare of the sun plays on the soap bubble and the play of different shades on the foam is visible.

In 1731, after several years of dating, Chardin married the daughter of a merchant, Marguerite Sentar. Soon they would have a son, Pierre, who later became an artist, and in 1733, a daughter. But two years pass, and the artist suffers a heavy loss when both his wife and little daughter die on the same day. He married again only in 1744. His chosen one was Françoise Margarita Pouget, the widow of a bourgeois. But here, too, a new misfortune awaits Chardin - the child from his new marriage dies.

Misfortunes in his personal life did not affect the artist’s work. In the years 1730–1740, he created his best paintings, which for the first time in French art depicted ordinary Parisians.

“...the rejection of entertainment and deliberate effects, devotion to nature, the depiction of people and things as they can be seen in life, but as they had never been depicted by French artists before, attracted attention to these works.

Chardin's paintings are intimate in content, and their small format is the only possible one. Our attention is concentrated on a limited but noteworthy area of ​​​​life - on the warmth of human feelings, on the good harmony that reigns in the families of modest Parisians. Almost every one of his works is imbued with this mood.

With reverence and genuine lyricism, the artist depicts a female mentor who cultivates good feelings in her pets. And this appeal to the child’s mind, concern for his moral education, his observance of norms of behavior are characteristic and typical for the time of the spread of educational ideas (“Prayer before dinner”, “The Governess”),” writes Yu.G. Shapiro.

In 1743, Chardin was elected advisor to the Royal Academy, and in 1755 he became its treasurer. In 1765, the artist was also elected a member of another academy - Rouen.

Still life has occupied a huge place in Chardin’s work, especially since the fifties: “Hurdy Organ and Birds” (circa 1751), “Cut Lemon” (circa 1760), “Dessert” (1763), “Kitchen Table”, “Copper Tank” , “Pipes and Jug”, “Still Life with Art Attributes” (1766), “Basket with Peaches” (1768).

Diderot's ability to convey the materiality of each thing with paint aroused Diderot's admiration. He called Chardin's skill witchcraft. Diderot wrote: “Oh, Chardin, this is not the white, red and black paints that you rub on your palette, but the very essence of objects; you take air and light at the tip of your brush and apply it to the canvas.”

Chardin asserted in his paintings the value and significance of the material world and the surrounding real life. In his still lifes, the artist does not like lush and decoratively overloaded compositions. It is limited to a small number of lovingly selected objects, very modest and not conspicuous.

His still life “Attributes of the Arts” is distinguished by its simplicity, balanced composition and material definiteness of objects. The beauty of the canvas lies in the calm and clear sense of harmony that permeates it, where the restrained, grayish color scheme so subtly corresponds to the everyday life and at the same time the sophistication of the selected things. Introducing us into the quiet and serious atmosphere of an art workshop, these objects were at the same time supposed to create a kind of allegorical image of the sciences and arts. Chardin owns a number of still lifes of this kind, such as “The Attribute of Music”.

The basis of the Chardin palette is a silver-gray tone. Raffaelli gave an excellent explanation for this artist’s preference: “When you pick a fruit - a peach, a plum or a bunch of grapes, you see on it what we call fluff, a special kind of silvery coating. If you place such a fruit on the table, the light and the play of reflexes from the objects surrounding it will give its color grayish tints. Finally, the air, with its bluish-gray tone, envelops all objects. This leads to the fact that the most intense colors of nature seem to be bathed in lilac-gray shades scattered everywhere, which only a subtle colorist can see, and it is the presence of such a grayish gamut that allows us to identify a good colorist. A colorist is by no means the one who puts a lot of colors on the canvas, but only the one who perceives and records all these grayish shades in his painting. Chardin should be considered one of our greatest colorists, since among our masters he not only saw the most subtly, but also knew best how to convey those delicate grayish shades that are generated by light, reflexes and the air environment.”

As a result of intrigues on the part of his enemies, the artist’s health was undermined. The sudden disappearance of his son (1774) was a heavy blow for him. Despite his advanced age and illness, he continued to work, but his financial situation became catastrophic. The master was forced to sell his house. Having given up treasury duties at the Academy, he decided to devote the rest of his strength to painting.

The master paints two wonderful portraits using the pastel technique - “Self-Portrait with a Green Visor” and “Portrait of a Wife” (both 1775).

“The first impression of a self-portrait is a feeling of unusualness. The artist depicted himself in a nightcap, with a carelessly tied scarf - he looks like a typical homebody-burgher who takes little care of himself, is old, good-natured, and a little funny. But the very next moment, when the viewer meets his gaze, bewilderment disappears... We recognize an artist who also carefully, calmly and seriously peers into life in order to affirm with his poetic talent, on the basis of life experience, only what is reasonable, useful, humane.” , writes Yu.G. Shapiro.

Chardin Chardin - (Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, 1699 - 1779) - French. painter, student of P. J. Kaz and Noel Coypel. Helping the latter to make accessories in his paintings, he acquired the extraordinary art of depicting inanimate objects of all kinds and decided to devote himself to

Greuze Jean Baptiste Greuze Jean Baptiste (21.8.1725, Tournus, Burgundy, - 21.3.1805, Paris), French painter. Between 1745 and 1750 he studied in Lyon with C. Grandon, then at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. In 1755-56 he was in Italy. Genre compositions by G. (“Village Engagement”,