Artwork
Young Girl Eating Cherries
Young Girl Eating Cherries is an oil painting by Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet. It dates from 1817 and is held in the collection of the Musée Marmottan Monet.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1817 by French artist Jeanne‑Élisabeth Chaudet, this oil painting presents a youthful figure seated on the ground, engaged in the simple act of eating cherries. The composition balances the figure against a gentle, pastoral backdrop of trees and rolling hills, rendered with a light, atmospheric sky.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure is a young girl with curly blond hair, dressed in a plain white garment with slender straps. She cradles a wicker basket of cherries in her left hand while bringing a fruit to her mouth with her right, a scene that evokes everyday domestic leisure and the sensory pleasure of fresh fruit.
Technique & Style
Chaudet employs a restrained palette and soft modeling to convey volume, using subtle contrasts of light and shadow reminiscent of chiaroscuro to give the figure a three‑dimensional presence. The brushwork remains delicate, particularly in the rendering of the girl's hair and the translucent quality of the sky.
History & Provenance
The work was exhibited at the Paris Salon up to the year of its creation, marking Chaudet’s last public showing before she withdrew from the exhibition circuit. It later entered the collection of the Musée Marmottan‑Monet, where it remains on view.
Context
Trained by her first husband, sculptor Antoine Denis Chaudet, Jeanne‑Élisabeth was part of a network of artists that included her sister‑in‑law, painter Marie‑Élisabeth Gabiou. The painting reflects early 19th‑century French genre traditions that favored intimate, anecdotal scenes drawn from everyday life.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet (née Gabiou; born 23 January 1767, died 18 April 1832) was a French painter and the wife of the sculptor Antoine Denis Chaudet, who had also been her teacher.
