Jean-Baptiste Chardin: biography, works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Jean-Baptiste Chardin was born on November 2, 1699 in the Paris quarter of Saint-Germain. His father was a wood carver who performed complex artwork. Even as a child, Jean-Baptiste began to show a penchant for drawing and make the first progress.

Training

At the beginning of his career, Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin worked in the studios of famous Parisian artists. First, he entered the studio of Pierre Jacques Case, a painter completely forgotten in our days. There he made copies of paintings, mostly on religious themes.

Then he became an apprentice to Noel Coypel, a master of the historical genre in painting. It was there that he began to make his first serious progress in depicting various household items, when he added small details and accessories to Kuapel's paintings. He performed his work so precisely and meticulously that in the end these details began to look much better than the whole picture. Kuapel realized that a true master had grown from an apprentice.

First exhibition

In 1728, an exhibition of debutant artists took place on the Parisian Place Dauphine, at which Jean-Baptiste Chardin. Among them were "Scat" and "Buffet", which were painted with such skill that they could easily be equated with the painting of the Dutch masters of the 17th century. No wonder they made a splash.

At that exhibition he was noticed by one of the members of the Royal Academy of Arts. And in the same year, Chardin was included in the Academy as an artist depicting fruits and everyday scenes. It is curious that only more mature and experienced masters recognized by society could get membership in the Academy. And Chardin at that time was only 28 and he was practically unknown to the public.

Still life

In those days, still life was not popular and was in the category of the "lower" genre. The leading positions were occupied by historical and mythological subjects. Despite this, Jean-Baptiste Chardin devoted most of his creative activity to still lifes. And he did it with such love for detail that he attracted more and more attention to this genre.

Chardin, like the best Dutch masters, in his still lifes was able to convey the charm of simple household items that surround any person. Whether it is jugs, pots, tubs, water barrels, fruits and vegetables, sometimes, attributes of the arts and sciences. The still lifes of the master are not distinguished by pomp and abundance of things. All items are modest and not striking, but perfectly and harmoniously combined with each other.

Painting technique and new subjects

Jean-BaptisteChardin saw and perceived color in a special way. With many small strokes, he tried to convey all the subtle shades of the subject. Silver and brown tones dominate his painting. The objects on his canvases are illuminated by beams of soft light.

A contemporary and compatriot of the painter, philosopher-educator Denis Diderot believed that the master had a special manner of writing. If we consider the painting of Chardin from a close distance, we can see only a chaotic mosaic of multi-colored strokes and strokes. He achieved the right shades not just by mixing the right colors on the palette. He applied paint to the canvas with small strokes of certain colors, which merged into a single whole, if you move away from the picture at a sufficient distance. The optical effect of mixing colors was obtained, and a complex shade needed by the artist was formed. Thus, Chardin seemed to weave the canvas of the picture with a brush.

Didero admired his ability to paint the materiality of objects. He wrote enthusiastic lines about it: "Oh, Chardin, it's not the white, black and red paints that you rub on the palette, but the very essence of the objects; on the tip of your brush you take air and light and put it on the canvas!"

In the thirties, a new round began in the work of Chardin. Continuing to follow the Dutch masters, he turns to genre painting. The artist began to depict the daily life of the French third estate, which included all groups of the population, except for the privileged. By that time, his paintings "Lady sealing a letter", "Laundress", "Woman,Peeling Vegetables", "Returning from the Market", "Industrious Mother". These scenes are recognized as one of the best in genre painting.

Private life

In 1731 the painter decides to marry Marguerite Sentar, the daughter of a merchant. First they have a son, and then a daughter. The son will later also become an artist, but the daughter suffers a tragic fate. At a young age, she dies along with Chardin's wife. It was a hard blow for the artist. Ten years later he marries again. This time on the widow of the bourgeois Françoise Marguerite Pouget. They have a child who soon dies.

In parallel with all this, Chardin continues his creative activity. The artist is popular, he has many orders, engravings are made from his works. And since 1737, paintings by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin have been regularly exhibited in the Paris Salons. He becomes an adviser to the Royal Academy, and then appointed its treasurer. Receives membership in the Rouen Academy of Sciences, Fine Arts and Letters.

Poet of everyday life

Jean-Baptiste Chardin is deservedly called the poet of home life, calm comfort, warmth of family ties and home. The favorite models for the artist were caring mothers, hardworking housewives, playing children. For example, in the painting "Laundress" the figure of a woman is snatched from the general dark background and literally glows with warmth. This effect is achieved thanks to the play of light and shadow.

All the characters in his paintings are busy with daily activities. Washerwomen do laundry, mothers teach children, maids cook, clean vegetables, go grocery shopping, children blow bubbles. In some paintings you can meet domestic cats. All the details of the works of Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin are permeated with love for the third estate. To his quiet and measured life, his worries and family values. The heroines of his paintings, despite their uncomplicated occupations, are particularly graceful and graceful.

Recent years

In the seventies, several more tragic events take place in the life of the already middle-aged Chardin. His son disappears, his financial situation worsens, and the artist is forced to sell his house. Prolonged illness and advanced age also made themselves felt. Chardin decides to step down as treasurer of the Academy.

The last years the master devotes to pastel painting. Two portraits painted in this technique deserve special attention - "Self-portrait with a green visor" and "Portrait of his wife".

Despite the illness and age of the artist, the last portraits feel the firmness of the hand and ease of movement. Dynamic light and natural colors bring life to the work.

December 6, 1779, Jean-Baptiste Chardin died.

Invaluable contribution

The work of the French artist greatly influenced the development of European art. Thanks to the still lifes of Jean-Baptiste Chardin, the genre itself has become one of the leading from unpopular and underestimated. His everyday scenes were differentrealism, warmth and comfort. That is why they were so popular with the common people. Among Chardin's contemporaries there was no such woman who would not recognize herself, her life, her children on his canvases. Homely lyrics and spontaneity, sung by Chardin, resonated in the hearts of the public.

Not a single painter before him could boast of such a skillful ability to apply chiaroscuro. The light on the canvases of the master is felt almost physically. It seems that by raising your hands to them, you can feel the warmth. Denis Diderot spoke about his works like this: "You don't know which of the paintings to stop your eyes on, which one to choose! They are all perfect!"

Chardin was also a skilled colorist. He could notice and fix all the reflexes barely perceptible to the human eye. His friends called it none other than magic.

The biography of Jean-Baptiste Chardin is very rich and tragic at the same time. Recognized by his compatriots during his lifetime, in his old age he lived practically in poverty. It's hard to believe, but the artist never left his native Paris.