Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin Paintings Buy Art Prints Now
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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
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Chardin's 18th century paintings brought attention to the ordinary lives of the masses and also raised the bar within the genre of still life painting.

His studio also helped to develop several other notable artists.

Chardin's Still Life Paintings

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin's paintings give a prominence to everyday objects, such as kitchen utensils or entirely normal food items. Many other artists felt these were not enough on their own, and so, historically, most previous still life paintings would include lots of accompanying detail elsewhere in their near environment.

We can see examples of this in Vermeer's paintings, where the Dutchman would add objects with incredible detail, but they would be just a small part of an overall composition of perhaps a room with a central figure.

Chardin, though, would crop out the rest of these scenes and just include an arrangement of items on their own. He could rely on his technical skills to impress on their own, such was his extraordinary ability to create reproduce items in photo-realistic quality.

That said, we do know that Chardin took inspiration from North European artists and this should not be forgotten just because he added his own ideas on top.

For example, Pieter Claesz is remembered for overhanging the edges of his tables with cloth in order to add a vertical element to these scenes and Chardin would do the same. He went even further, however, and would often place other objects right at the edge, sometimes teetering over into the abyss.

These adjustments meant that the remaining objects which pushed upwards would have an alternative force to balance the piece. Balthasar van der Ast and Anne Vallayer-Coster also potentially influenced his style in this regard. It is unfortunate that still life art has struggled for the popularity of other genres, with the names mentioned here being lesser known within historic Dutch art.

Success within his own lifetime

As the French artist's career developed he was accepted into the Royal Academy before being permitted to exhibit at the salon. Some who came to view his work considered him to have an effortless ability to depict still life compositions, but in reality there was a huge amount of re-work that went on behind the scenes. One can argue about whether this was due to a streak of perfectionism or actually down to a lack of prior planning, but most critics were not concerned by the amount of work that went into each painting, and simply appreciated the final result found in each of Chardin's finely tuned canvases.

Variety of still life content

He would make use of a great variety of objects within these carefully planned compositions, including typical kitchenware such as pots, bowls, cups plus cutlery and various food types. There were also fish hung up from hooks and the occasional pet cat.

Chardin did not only produce still life depictions of domestic items, however, and it is important to understand and acknowledge his career oeuvre as a whole rather than just focusing on a single strand. He shifted his approach in the early 1730s towards genre paintings in an attempt to display to his critics that he was a more rounded, and ultimately more talented painter than they had suggested.

Struggles with criticism

Some regarded him only as a still life painter, as that was mainly all he had exhibited up to then, and with his accepted limitations as a draughtsman, he may have been somewhat sensitive to this criticism. In fact, some of these opinions came from friends and fellow artists, and this appears to have pushed him into action. He may well have had anxieties, taking on new genres that would throw up new challenges, but Chardin also wanted to prove to himself that these could be overcome.


Basket of Peaches Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Basket of Peaches
Jar of Apricots Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Jar of Apricots
Saying Grace Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Saying Grace
Still Life with Dead Pheasant Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Dead Pheasant
A Bowl of Plums Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
A Bowl of Plums
Still Life with a White Mug Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with a White Mug
Boy with a Spinning-Top Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Boy with a Spinning-Top
Vegetables for the Soup Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Vegetables for the Soup
Still Life with a Hare Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with a Hare
Self Portrait with Spectacles Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Self Portrait with Spectacles
The Buffet Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Buffet
Still Life with Fish, Vegetables, Gougères, Pots, and Cruets on a Table Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Fish, Vegetables, Gougères, Pots, and Cruets on a Table
The Young Schoolmistress Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Young Schoolmistress
Young Man with a Violin (Portrait of Charles Theodose Godefroy) Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Young Man with a Violin (Portrait of Charles Theodose Godefroy)
The Attentive Nurse Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Attentive Nurse
The Silver Goblet Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Silver Goblet
Still Life with Game Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Game
Fruit, Jug and a Glass Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Fruit, Jug and a Glass
A Lean Diet with Cooking Utensils Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
A Lean Diet with Cooking Utensils
Pears, Walnuts and Glass of Wine Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Pears, Walnuts and Glass of Wine
The Silver Tureen Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Silver Tureen
Still Life with Plums Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Plums
The Good Education Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Good Education
Self Portrait with an Easel Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Self Portrait with an Easel
Still Life with Tin Pitcher and Peaches Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Tin Pitcher and Peaches
A Vase of Flowers Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
A Vase of Flowers
Lady Sealing a Letter Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Lady Sealing a Letter
The Governess Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Governess
Draughtsman Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Draughtsman
The Copper Drinking Fountain Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Copper Drinking Fountain
The Morning Toilet Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Morning Toilet
A Chemist in his Laboratory Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
A Chemist in his Laboratory
Still Life with Jar of Olives Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Jar of Olives
Still Life with Cat and Rayfish Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Still Life with Cat and Rayfish
Basket of Plums Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Basket of Plums
Portrait of Francoise Marguerite Pouget Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
Portrait of Françoise Marguerite Pouget
A Game of Billiards Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
A Game of Billiards
The Silver Cup Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Silver Cup
The Cellar Boy Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Cellar Boy
The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards Which are Accorded Them Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards Which are Accorded Them
The Attributes of the Sciences Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Attributes of the Sciences
The Attributes of Music Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin
The Attributes of Music