On November 2, 1699, Jean-Baptiste Chardin was born in the Paris quarter of Saint-Germain. His father was a woodcarver who performed complex artwork. As a child, Jean-Baptiste began to show a penchant for drawing and make first successes.
Training
At the beginning of his career, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin worked in the workshops of famous Parisian artists. First, he enrolled in the workshop of Pierre Jacques Caz, a painter who was completely forgotten today. There he made copies of paintings mainly on religious topics.
Then he got into the apprentice to Noel Kuapel, a master of the historical genre in painting. It was there that he began to make his first serious successes in the depiction of various household items, when he added small details and accessories to Kuapel's paintings. He performed his work so precisely and scrupulously that as a result, 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 Paris Dauphin Square, where Jean-Baptiste Chardin decided to exhibit his paintings for the first time. Among them were Skat and Buffet, which were written with such skill that they could easily be equated with paintings by Dutch 17th-century masters. 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 reckoned with the Academy as an artist depicting fruits and everyday scenes. It is curious that membership in the Academy could only be obtained by more mature and experienced masters recognized by society. And Chardin at that time was only 28 and he was practically unknown to the public.
Still lifes
In those days, still life was not popular and was in the category of "lower" genre. The dominant 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 details 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. Be it jugs, pans, tubs, water barrels, fruits and vegetables, sometimes, attributes of art and science. Still lifes of the master are not distinguished by splendor and an abundance of things. All objects are modest and not striking, but perfectly and harmoniously combined with each other.
Painting Technique and New Stories
Jean-Baptiste Chardin 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 lit by beams of soft light.
A contemporary and compatriot of the painter, philosopher-educator Denis Didro believed that the master had a special manner of writing. If you look at the Chardin painting from close range, you can only see a chaotic mosaic of colorful strokes and strokes. He achieved the right shades by not just 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 the complex shade needed by the artist was formed. Thus, Charden brushed the canvas with a brush.
Didro admired his ability to paint materiality of objects with paint. He wrote enthusiastic lines about this: "Oh, Sharden, this is not the white, black and red paint that you rub on the palette, but the essence of the objects; you take air and light to the tip of your brush 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 everyday life of the French third estate, which included all groups of the population, except the privileged. His paintings “Lady Sealing Letter”, “Laundress”, “Woman Cleaning Vegetables”, “Returning from the Market”, “Hardworking Mother” belong to that time. These scenes are recognized as one of the best in genre painting.
Personal life
In 1731, the painter decides to marry Margarita Sentar, the daughter of a merchant. First, they have a son, and then a daughter. The son later also becomes an artist, but the daughter bears a tragic fate. At a young age, she dies with his wife Chardin. It was a hard blow for the artist. Ten years later, he will marry again. This time on the widow of the bourgeois Francoise Margaret Puget. They give birth to a child who soon dies.
In parallel with all this, Charden continues his creative work. The artist is popular, he has a lot of orders, engravings are made according to his works. And since 1737, paintings by Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin are regularly exhibited in the Paris Salons. He becomes an adviser to the Royal Academy, and then appointed by its treasurer. Gets membership in the Rouen Academy of Sciences, Fine Arts and Literature.
Poet of everyday life
Jean-Baptiste Chardin is deservedly called the poet of domestic life, calm comfort, the warmth of family ties and the hearth. Favorite models for the artist were caring mothers, hardworking housewives, playing children. For example, in the Laundress painting, the figure of a woman is snatched from a 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 everyday activities. Laundresses wash, mothers teach children, maids prepare, clean vegetables, go grocery shopping, children blow bubbles. In some paintings you can find domestic cats. All the details of the works of Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin are imbued with love for the third estate. To his quiet and measured life, his cares and family values. The heroines of his paintings, in spite of their simple occupations, are distinguished by special grace and grace.
Last years
In the seventies in the life of a middle-aged Chardin, several more tragic events took place. His son disappears, his financial situation worsens, and the artist is forced to sell his house. Long illness and old age also made themselves felt. Chardin decides to resign as Treasurer of the Academy.
In recent years, the master devotes pastel painting. Two portraits painted in this technique deserve special attention - “Self-portrait with a green peak” and “Portrait of a wife”.
Despite the artist’s illness and age, the last portraits show the strength of the hand and the ease of movement. Dynamic light and natural colors give the work liveliness.
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, from the unpopular and underestimated, has become one of the leading ones. His everyday scenes were distinguished by realism, warmth and comfort. Therefore, they were so popular among the common people. Among Chardin's contemporaries there was no such woman who would not recognize herself, her life, her children on his canvases. Home lyrics and spontaneity, sung by Charden, resonated in the hearts of the public.
Not a single painter before him could boast of such skillful ability to apply chiaroscuro. The light on the master’s canvases is felt almost physically. It seems that by raising your hands to them, you can feel the warmth. Denis Didro spoke of his work as follows: “You do not know which of the pictures to stop your eyes on, which one to choose! All of them are perfect!”
Chardin was also the most skilled colorist. He could notice and fix all reflexes, hardly perceptible to a human eye. His friends called it nothing more than magic.
The biography of Jean-Baptiste Chardin is very rich and at the same time tragic. Having received the recognition of compatriots during his lifetime, he lived in poverty in old age. It is hard to believe, but the artist never left the borders of his native Paris.