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Still Life with Herrings
About the Artwork
Chardin reflected intensely on the act of observation. Still life became a forum for sophisticated performances in paint, and his complex technique—he famously worked in private—uses a staggering combination of delicate glazes and roughly dragged thick paint to capture the varied surfaces, atmospheres, and spaces in this humble pantry shelf. Acutely aware of recent developments in optics and physics, Chardin explored ideas about light, shadow, and color, and fully expected his work to be inspected closely.
Inscriptions
Signed lower right: "chardin"
Provenance
Until 1857: Dr. Benoist March 30, 1857: (Benoist sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 30, 1857, no. 12, probably sold to Monsieur R.) Probably 1857-1860: Monsieur R., Paris April 28, 1860: (Monsieur R. collection sale, Rouillard, Paris, April 28, 1860, no. 12, possibly sold to Henri Possibly 1860-by 1881: Henri Viollet [1849-1926?], Tours, France Until 1904: Alfred [1811-1893] and Paul [1833-1903] Mame, Tours, France April 26-29, 1904: (Mame sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France, April 26-29, 1904, no. 7, sold to Alexis Vollon) 1904-1909: Alexis Vollon [1865-1945], Paris, France By 1925-1952: David David-Weill [1871-1952], Paris, France 1952: (Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, NY, sold to Sidney J. Lamon) 1952-1973: Sidney J. Lamon [d. 1973], New York, NY June 29, 1973: (Sale, Christie’s, London, June 29, 1973, no. 21, sold to Frederick Mont/Newhouse Galleries) 1 1973-1974: (Frederick Mont and Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1974-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975). Chardin, 1699 - 1779. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (co-organizer) (January 26-April 30, 1979); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (co-organizer) (June 6-August 12, 1979); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (co-organizer) (September 11-November 19, 1979). The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-February 1, 1987). Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001). Masterworks from The Phillips Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-May 29, 2005). Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin. Palazzo dei Diamanti, 44110 Ferrara, Italy (October 17, 2010-January 30, 2011); Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (February 28-May 29, 2011).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-Siméon Chardin (French, 1699–1779)
- Date
- c. 1735
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 58.5 x 50.5 x 8.5 cm (23 1/16 x 19 7/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 41 x 33.6 cm (16 1/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1974.1
More by Jean Siméon Chardin in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009349
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