CHARDIN, Jean Baptiste Simeon, French painter, b. Paris 1699 ;.d. 1779. His father was a carpenter. The young Char din received his first instruction from Pierre Jacques Cazes and had practical experience in executing minor portions of pictures of fash ionable painters. His first independent work was a sign for the office of a surgeon. In 1728 on the occasion of a religious procession, he exhibited in the open air two pictures, one of which, 'The Ray,' is now in the Louvre. He was already a master of still-life, the genre which was to be his principal occupation throughout his life. He was extremely con scientious, never beginning a new picture until the one preceding it was finished, and unceas ingly consulting the object he was representing in order to be sure that his effect was true. Chardin was twice married, and the fact is not without importance when we consider the char acter of the man as reflected in his art. He was "good and modest" and the delightful glimpses of 'family life that he has noted in his pictures are surely a result of the conditions in his own home. Of his two children the son, Pierre, gave promise of becoming a painter of merit, but died prematurely at 37 years of age. Chardin was received as a member of the Academie de Peinture in 1728, and became its treasurer in 1755. In 1757 the King installed Chardin in an apartment in the Louvre where the painter spent the rest of his life. Diderot tells us that Chardin had a great understanding of art and could recognize it in others. The observation is certainly borne out by the fact that he was one of those who voted an en couragement to the young Louis David, who was to bring in a style of painting so different from his own. He was a wise teacher, Fragonard being a pupil of his before he went to study with Boucher, and it was to his first master that he owed the best of his instruction.
While Chardin's picture like the exquisite or 'Le Benedicite' at the Louvre and the innumerable still-life pieces might seem at first to suggest the Dutch school, he is in reality akin to the Hollanders only through the fortuitous similarity of his sub jects. He is of the Latin tradition and his color and his idea of light —a matter to which he gave great attention — come from the earlier Frenchmen, with their Italian heritage. The composition of Chardin's work is also far re moved from the Dutch—though one man of the latter nation must have appeared sympa thetic to him, Vermeer of Delft. Even the lat ter, however, if he is easily Chardin's peer in the matter of light, is not to be placed beside him as a colorist. From the gentle palette, so gay and so harmonious, the best influence has gone forth to the French colorists ever since, and not even Delacroix can make us forget the in debtedness to Chardin of such painters as Cezanne, Renoir an i Matisse. He was very happy in the portrayal of children, as in 'Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles' and with Cher ries,' 'The Diligent Mother' and 'The Amuse ments of Private Life.' The best known of his portraits are a pastel of himself, now in the Louvre, and the excellent likeness of Rameau d'Alembert and Seeaine. From 1765 to 1767 he painted a series of decorative panels for the castles of Choisy and Bellevue, of which the 'Attributes of the Sciences, Arts and Music' are now in the Louvre. Examples of his work are in the National Gallery, London ((La Fontaine' and 'Still Life' ), at the Metro politan Museum, New York Life), and at other museums. The great treasury of it remains in the Louvre. Consult Edmond Pilou's (Paris 1909).