NARRATOR:
It’s the end of a successful day at the hunt . A rabbit and bird hang beside a hunting horn and a rifle. On the ground lies more game, including a deer. The pointer lifts his head, as if he hears a promising rustle in the bushes.
This painting by the celebrated 18th-century French artist Jean-Siméon Chardin depicts a familiar scene from contemporary life, for hunting was a popular pastime. And that’s precisely what makes this picture so exceptional. Most 18th-century French painters set out to create romantic fantasies—mythical worlds of heroes, lovers and flying cupids. But Chardin, sometimes called “the quiet revolutionary,” insisted on painting only what he could see with his eyes. And the way he painted was revolutionary, too.
Turning his back on the prettified, polished style of his contemporaries, he aimed at truth through the art of painting. His brush marks, the evidence of his “work”, capture light glinting off the battered brass of the horn. Or the springy softness of the bird’s feather. He discards specific details in favor of textures and vivid visual impressions. Look at the body of the hanging rabbit, for example, with its sinewy legs and furry belly.
A friend later recalled:
ACTOR:
“One of the first things he did was a rabbit. He had never attempted to paint fur before. He said, ‘I must forget everything I have seen, and even forget the way such objects have been treated by others. I must place it at such a distance that I cannot see the details. I must work at representing the general mass, the colours, the effects of light and shade.”
While Chardin was known for his quiet genre scenes, as well as his still lifes, this painting is a rarity in his oeuvre: it is one of his largest canvases, and only one of three still lifes that he depicted in an outdoor setting.
Dog and Game
1730
Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (French, 1699-1779)
On View
Chardin, one of the great still-life painters of the 18th century, did not follow the traditional career path of his peers. He never trained at the French Academy or traveled to Italy to study the works of the Old Masters. Nevertheless, thanks in part to the support of fellow painter Nicolas de Largillière, Chardin was elected to the French Academy in 1728 and enjoyed considerable success.
In this painting, a hunter’s dog—likely an English pointer—guards the day’s catch. Poised to react, the dog gazes intently beyond the painting’s left edge. The alertness of its rigid pose is offset by the limp, lifeless bodies of the birds and rabbits. Intense lighting further dramatizes the scene, as the dog’s bright coat stands out sharply against the shadowy background. By introducing these elements of contrast, Chardin elevates a still-life subject into a nuanced moment, charged with suspense.
Details
- Artist Name: Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (French, 1699-1779)
- Title: Dog and Game
- Date: 1730
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 75-3/4 x 54-3/4 in. (192.4 x 139.1 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1972.56.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
?Comte du Luc (Jean-Baptiste Felix Hubert, marquis de Vintimille, 1720-1775), in 1759.
Joseph Aved (1702-1766), Paris (sale, Paris, 24 November 1766, no. 132, to);
Langlier.
Passalaqua, Germany (sale, 18-19 March 1853, no. 111).
Prince Gagarine, Russia and Saint Cloud, by 1910.
[Wildenstein & Co., Paris].
Enrique de Santa-Marina, Buenos Aires, by descent to;
Ramon J. Santa-Marina, Buenos Aires.
[Galerie Schmidt, Paris; sold 1972 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Joseph Aved (1702-1766), Paris (sale, Paris, 24 November 1766, no. 132, to);
Langlier.
Passalaqua, Germany (sale, 18-19 March 1853, no. 111).
Prince Gagarine, Russia and Saint Cloud, by 1910.
[Wildenstein & Co., Paris].
Enrique de Santa-Marina, Buenos Aires, by descent to;
Ramon J. Santa-Marina, Buenos Aires.
[Galerie Schmidt, Paris; sold 1972 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Salon
- Paris, 1759 to
Chardin, 1699-1779
- Paris, Grand Palais, 1979-01-29 to 1979-04-30
- Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979-06-06 to 1979-08-12
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1979-09-11 to 1979-11-19
[on loan]
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1978-12-21 to
Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life
- Norton Simon Museum, 2012-07-20 to 2013-01-21
Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and the Norton Simon Foundation_2
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1974-10-19 to 1976-06-15
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
- Conisbee, Philip, Chardin, fig. 65 p. 74
- Wildensein, G., Chardin, no. 676, pl. 53, fig. 69 p. 206
- V. Lazarev, Chardin, pl. 5
- Wildenstein, G.; and D. Wildenstein, Chardin, no. 69, repr. fig. 33
- Lazarev, V., Chardin, repr. pl. 5
- Rosenberg, Pierre and Renaud Temperini, Chardin, pp. 27-31
- Goncourt, E.; and J. Goncourt, L'art du XVIII siècle, 1906, p. 186
- G. Wildentstein, Le peintre Aved: sa vie et son oeuvre, 1702-1776, 1922, no. 132 p. 155
- H. Adhémar, Encyclopedia of World Art, 1958, p. 382
- Lazarev, V., Chardin. Old European Masters, 1974, repr. pl. 182
- Mirimone, A. de, L'iconographie musicale sous les rois Bourbons. La musique dans les arts plastiques XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle, 1977, p. 16
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 94
- Rubin, James H., Impressionist Cats and Dogs, 2003, fig. 4 pp. 6-7
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 894 p. 349
- Diana Magaloni, Itzel Rodriguez, Jennifer Stager, Camille Methieu, James Oles, Juan Coronel, Michele Greet and J. Leighten, Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time, 2016, p. 159 (ill.)
- du Bourg, Alexis Merle, Chardin, 2020, 76 pp. 98-100, p. 98 (ill.)
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