Artwork
Servant Girl Plucking a Chicken
Servant Girl Plucking a Chicken is an oil painting by Nicolas Bernard Lépicié. It dates from 1769 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1769, *Servant Girl Plucking a Chicken* is an oil painting by French artist Nicolas‑Bernard Lépicié. The work depicts a domestic scene and is held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It exemplifies the genre‑painting tradition that Lépicié pursued during his career as both painter and instructor.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a young servant engaged in the routine task of removing feathers from a chicken. By focusing on a modest, everyday activity, the image reflects the 18th‑century interest in portraying ordinary life with a quiet dignity, inviting viewers to consider the dignity of labor and the rhythms of household work.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas, the painting displays a careful handling of light and texture that gives the figure and the bird a palpable presence.
Executed in oil on canvas, the painting displays a careful handling of light and texture that gives the figure and the bird a palpable presence. Lépicié’s brushwork balances fine detail—particularly in the rendering of the chicken’s plumage—with broader, softer passages that model the surrounding interior, aligning his approach with the refined realism associated with contemporaries such as Chardin and Greuze.
History & Provenance
The work entered the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of its 19th‑century acquisitions of French genre paintings. Its provenance prior to the museum’s purchase is not extensively documented, but the painting has remained a representative example of Lépicié’s output since its creation in the late 1760s.
Context
Nicolas‑Bernard Lépicié was born into an artistic family; his parents, François‑Bernard Lépicié and Renée‑Élisabeth Marlié, were noted engravers. This background provided him with a solid foundation in drawing and composition, which he later applied to his own paintings and teaching. The piece reflects the broader Enlightenment‑era shift toward depicting the lives of common people rather than solely aristocratic or mythological subjects.
Artist & collection
Artist
Nicolas Bernard Lépicié (16 June 1735 – 15 September 1784) was a French painter and teacher of painting, the son of two well-known engravers at the time, François-Bernard Lépicié and Renée-Élisabeth Marlié.
