The Little Schoolmistress
Jean Siméon Chardin·after 1740
Historical Context
Chardin's Little Schoolmistress from after 1740 depicts a young woman teaching a small child to read — a subject combining the domestic virtue of education with the appeal of childhood learning depicted with the concentrated attention that characterized all Chardin's genre work. Female education was a significant subject in eighteenth-century France, as Enlightenment philosophy emphasized the rational cultivation of all human beings while social reality constrained women's access to formal learning. Chardin's domestic educators are usually young women teaching younger children, suggesting the informal transmission of basic literacy within the household rather than formal schooling. His treatment gives both teacher and student an absorbed seriousness that elevates the humble domestic scene.
Technical Analysis
Chardin's intimate technique renders the two figures with warm, sympathetic tones and soft, natural lighting. The domestic interior is suggested with minimal detail, focusing attention on the absorbed interaction between teacher and student. The brushwork is characteristically refined, building form through carefully observed tonal relationships.
Provenance
Casimir Perrin, marquis de Cypierre [1783-1844], Paris; (his estate sale, at his residence by Thoré, Paris, 10 March 1845 and days following, no. 24). Albert, vicomte de Curel [1827-1908], Paris;[1] his heirs; (his estate sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 25 November 1918 [originally scheduled for 3 May 1918], no. 26 [misprinted in auction catalogue as 23]); (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York, and Paris);[2] sold May 1919 to Frank D. [d. 1927] and Clara W. [d. 1949] Stout, Chicago; on consignment to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[3] purchased 28 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[4] gift 1937 to NGA. [1] The vicomte de Curel, at whose 1918 estate sale the NGA painting was sold, has been identified by François Auffret, Président of La Société des Amis de Jongkind in Paris (founded 1970), with confirmation from the collector's descendants. With M. Auffret's kind permission, his research was shared with the NGA by Dr. Diana Kostyrko (e-mails, October through December 2008, in NGA curatorial files). [2] See the Knoedler envelope containing a statement by George Sortais about the signature on the painting in which he describes the painting as "acheté par nous à cette vente" (11 December 1918, in NGA curatorial files). [3] On sale to Stout see Knoedler sales book no. 11, page 256. For the consignment from the Stout heirs, see Knoedler commission book no. 3, number 1103 under consignments for 19 February 1937, although it is annotated as sold December 1936 to the Mellon Trust; the sale date to the Mellon Trust is also confirmed in Knoedler sales book no. 13. All M. Knoedler & Co. records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copies, NGA curatorial files). [4] The Mellon Trust purchase date is according to Mellon collection files in NGA curatorial records and David Finley's notebook (donated to the NGA in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives).
