The Water Urn
Jean-Siméon Chardin
JEAN-SIMÉON CHARDIN, c.1736. OIL ON WOOD PANEL.
In an era of grandeur, Chardin turned his talents to the mundane. Large, dramatic historical scenes were prized by the academic painters of his contemporary France, and shown across the country by institutions who saw the past as an essential subject matter of value. The works were large, depicting battles, mythologies, and morals meant to stir patriotism and contemplation. Chardin rejected this idea not just in the size of his works, far smaller in scale and presentation, but in his compositional choices and the very scenes he chose to depict. Considered one of the greatest still-life painters of his generation, he was equally regarded in his genre scenes that showed maids, chefs, and the ‘back-of-house’ kept private from the eyes of the aristocracy and artistic elite. His paintings show daily life, paying respect to duty and to labour by depicting it with care and diligence. The scenes are not dramatic, though they are compositionally immaculate, but the figures are beautiful and the reverence to his subjects is clear in each brushstroke.