4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2016.

Basket of Plums

Artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (French, 1699 - 1779)

Date1765

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 12 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. (32.4 x 41.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 17 1/2 in. x 20 5/8 (44.5 x 52.4 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.506

Terms

Still life
Fruit
Plums
Cherries
Walnuts
Blue
Purple
Red
Stone
White

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionAn oil on canvas painting of a wicker basketful of plums on a stone bench, with a string as a handle. It is surrounded by a few cherries, white currants, and two walnuts. The twelve plums are arranged in pyramid fashion. They are painted in rich violet and burgundy colors and are highlighted by light. There are two walnuts sharing a bit of the spotlight, while the currents and cherries are on the shadowed side of the basket of plums.

Label TextJean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin French, 1699-1779 Basket of Plums, 1765 Oil on canvas The subject couldn’t be much humbler: a wicker basket heaped with plums and placed on a stone ledge amid a scattering of walnuts, cherries, and currants. In an era when French painting was known for its grandeur and decorative embellishments, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s still lifes and genre scenes were renowned for their simplicity and directness. Though considered too modest to be ranked alongside the extravagant works of François Boucher (on the opposite side of this room), Chardin’s paintings charmed many of his contemporaries. The great Paris intellectual Denis Diderot praised Chardin for his truthfulness and unassuming poetry—the very qualities that captivate us today. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.506