The Silver Tureen
by CHARDIN, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon, Oil on canvas, 76,2 x 108 cm
Chardin was a contemporary of Boucher, but no two artists could have been more different. Chardin invariably imbued his deceptively simple compositions with a disregard for mere prettiness. In this still-life Chardin has given ordinary objects of everyday life an aura of dignity and value. The cat creates a sense of conflict between the living and dead animals, underscoring a theme common in Chardin’s genre scenes: the evanescence of life.