Still life with dead rabbits

Dead rabbits lie among straw and game accessories in this early still life from 1728 at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. The Karlsruhe collection holds several Chardin works that came to Germany through aristocratic collecting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when his reputation was undergoing a slow European rediscovery after the eclipse of his fame in the immediately post-Revolutionary period. The 1728 date places this at the very beginning of his established career, when his game still lifes first attracted serious critical attention. The arrangement of soft rabbit fur against rough straw demonstrates from the outset his distinctive approach to contrasting textures — one of the central pleasures his still lifes offered to viewers and collectors.

The rabbits' soft fur is rendered with the tactile conviction that became Chardin's hallmark, each tuft and fold of skin differentiated through subtle tonal and textural variation. The straw provides contrasting texture—dry, angular, pale against the soft, dark fur. The composition, though apparently casual, is carefully balanced to create visual harmony from the arrangement of animal forms.