Still Life with Game
Jean Siméon Chardin·probably 1750s
Historical Context
Chardin's Still Life with Game from the 1750s represents his treatment of the hunting still life tradition — dead rabbits, birds, and hunting equipment arranged in a composition that combined the decorative function of kitchen and pantry subjects with the implicit narrative of successful hunting. The game still life was a traditional subgenre that connected to aristocratic patronage through its subject matter — hunting was an aristocratic prerogative — while its humble kitchen associations kept it within the domain of domestic genre. Chardin's treatment of fur, feathers, and the textures of game was celebrated by his contemporaries as unmatched for its tactile accuracy and visual truth.
Technical Analysis
Chardin renders the game with meticulous attention to the varied textures of feathers, fur, and flesh. The muted, earthy palette is warmer than some of his kitchen still lifes, with rich browns and subtle touches of color. The brushwork is varied and descriptive, with the dead animals painted with both naturalistic precision and respectful dignity.
Provenance
Possibly (Wildenstein & Co., Paris, New York, and London);[1] David David-Weill [1871-1952], Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, by 1925;[2] purchased February/March 1937 with the David-Weill collection by (Wildenstein & Co., Paris, New York, and London);[3] sold 1946 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] Eisler 1977: 314 indicates that David-Weill acquired the painting from Wildenstein, whose Paris office no longer has records to confirm this transaction (see letter from Ay-Whang Hsia to David Rust, 8 August 1978, in NGA curatorial files). [2] The painting appears in the background of a portrait of David-Weill painted by Edouard Vuillard in 1925, and was catalogued in the David-Weill collection by Georges Henriot in 1926. [3] "Sale of the David-Weill Collection." _Art News_ 35 (27 February 1937): 12 and "David-Weill Pictures Come to New York." _Art Digest_ 12 (1 November 1937): 13. David-Weill, head of Lazard Frère Bank and Chairman of the Conseil des Musées de France, had an extraordinary collection of art which was dispersed in several ways during the World War II era. Some of the collection was consigned to Wildenstein's in London, who in turn sent some of the paintings, including this Chardin, to their New York branch where they were exhibited in 1937. Despite complications of nationality during the war, David-Weill managed to ship a large part of the collection via Lisbon to New York. Unfortunately another portion of the collection, which had been safeguarded in Sourches by French museum administration officials, was confiscated by the Nazis in July 1941. Much of the collection was recovered and processed through the Munich Central Collecting Point after the war by the Allies. [4] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2017.
