Artwork
Still Life with Cherries and Turnips
Still Life with Cherries and Turnips is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. It dates from 1750 and is held in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Created circa 1750, this oil painting by Jean‑Baptiste‑Siméon Chardin presents a modest arrangement of kitchen items.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1750, this oil painting by Jean‑Baptiste‑Siméon Chardin presents a modest arrangement of kitchen items. A white ceramic pitcher dominates the composition, flanked by turnips, an onion and a few bright cherries. The objects rest on a dark brown tabletop that deepens the contrast and draws the eye toward the central vessel.
Subject & Meaning
The work depicts ordinary produce and a simple pitcher, reflecting Chardin’s interest in the quiet dignity of everyday life. By gathering humble vegetables and fruit together, the artist invites contemplation of the material world, emphasizing texture and form over narrative content.
Technique & Style
Chardin employs a restrained palette and soft, diffused illumination that gently models each surface. The paint is applied with a granular impasto, giving the fruit and vegetables a tactile quality. The balanced arrangement and subtle shading are characteristic of the refined still‑life tradition of the mid‑eighteenth‑century French Rococo.
History & Provenance
The painting entered the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it remains on display. Its acquisition date and previous owners are not recorded in the available sources, but the work has been identified as a representative example of Chardin’s mature still‑life output.
Context
During the 1750s Chardin was celebrated for elevating domestic subjects to the level of fine art, contrasting with the more decorative tendencies of his Rococo contemporaries. This piece exemplifies his approach of focusing on the quiet beauty of commonplace objects, a theme that resonated with Enlightenment ideas about observation and the value of the ordinary.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jean Siméon Chardin (French: ; November 2, 1699 – December 6, 1779) was an 18th-century French painter.
