The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 26, 2020

Still Life with Herrings

c. 1735

Jean-Siméon Chardin

(French, 1699-1779)

France, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 58.5 x 50.5 x 8.5 cm (23 1/16 x 19 7/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 41 x 33.6 cm (16 1/8 x 13 1/4 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1974.1

Location

216B French and German

Description

Chardin reflected intensely on the act of observation. Still life became a forum for sophisticated performances in paint, and his complex technique—he famously worked in private—uses a staggering combination of delicate glazes and roughly dragged thick paint to capture the varied surfaces, atmospheres, and spaces in this humble pantry shelf. Acutely aware of recent developments in optics and physics, Chardin explored ideas about light, shadow, and color, and fully expected his work to be inspected closely.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower right: "chardin"

Provenance
1974-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1973-1974
(Frederick Mont and Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1973
(Sale, Christie’s, London, June 29, 1973, no. 21, sold to Frederick Mont/Newhouse Galleries) 1 1
1952-1973
Sidney J. Lamon [d. 1973], New York, NY
1952
(Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, NY, sold to Sidney J. Lamon) 1 2
By 1925-1952
David David-Weill [1871-1952], Paris 1 3
1904-1909
Alexis Vollon [1865-1945], Paris
1904
(Mame sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, April 26-29, 1904, no. 7, sold to Alexis Vollon)
Until 1904
Alfred [1811-1893] and Paul [1833-1903] Mame, Tours 1 4
Possibly 1860-by 1881
Henri Viollet [1849-1926?], Tours 1 5
1860
(Monsieur R. collection sale, Rouillard, Paris, April 28, 1860, no. 12, possibly sold to Henri
Probably 1857-1860
Monsieur R., Paris
1857
(Benoist sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 30, 1857, no. 12, probably sold to Monsieur R.)
Until 1857
Dr. Benoist

Provenance Footnotes

1 1 The buyer listed in the catalogue is "Newhoune" [sic].
2 1 Rosenberg and Stiebel purchased this painting from Lazard Frères, the financial firm of which David-Weill was chairman.
3 1 David David-Weill was a prominent art collector in Paris. In 1937 he sold many objects to Wildenstein & Co., and then in 1940, he fled Paris. At this time, much of his collection was seized by the Nazis, and many of these items were returned to him after the war. This painting, however, appears to have remained in David-Weill’s collection throughout the war and until 1952; it appears in no databases of looted objects or in NARA’s archival records.
4 1 Alfred and Paul Mame were father and son.
5 1 Viollet may have purchased the painting at the 1860 Lecocq sale of the collection of Monsieur R. The 1881 sale at Hôtel Drouot of Viollet's collection does not include this painting, and thus, it was most likely no longer in his possession by that point.

Provenance Citations

Wildenstein, Georges, and Daniel Wildenstein. Chardin. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1969.
Henriot, Gabriel. Collection David-Weill. Paris : Braun & Cie, 1926.
Galerie Georges Petit. Tableaux anciens et modernes. April 26-29, 1904.
Hôtel Drouot. Tableaux anciens et modernes de l'école franc̦aise. March 30, 1857.
Rouillard. Tableaux anciens. April 28, 1860.
Galerie Georges Petit. Tableaux anciens et modernes. April 26-29, 1904.
Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
William Talbot, telephone conversation with Eric Stiebel, Jan. 29, 1980.
Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 26, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
Christie, Manson & Woods. Highly Important Pictures by Old Masters. June 29, 1973
Purchase order, Jan. 3, 1974, Director Lee, Box 47, 5. Mont 1967-83, Archival Files, Ingalls Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 178 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 60-61; Reproduced: p. 60
Exhibition history

Tours, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1873: "Exposition retrospective" cat.no. 501.

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1907: "Exposition Chardin et Fragonard," cat. no. 68.

New York, Arnold Seligmann-Helft Galleries, 1947: "French Still Life from Chardin to Cézanne," cat. no. 9.

CMA, March 1975: "Year in Review," Bull., cat.no. 46, repr.

Paris, Grand Palais; 1979: "Chardin," cat.no. 48, repr. (cat. by Pierre Rosenberg.) (also exhibited at: CMA and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). (Paris: jan 29-Apr. 30, 1979; CMA June 6-Aug 12, 1979; Boston: Sept. 18-Nov. 19, 1979).

CMA, October 21, 1986-march 8, 1987: "The Magic of Still Life," Gallery A. no catalogue.

Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; March 4-May 6, 2001. "Conserving the Past for the Future."

Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 20 - May 29, 2005. "Masterworks from The Phillips Collection". Not in exh. cat.

Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy (10/17/2010 - 1/30/2011) and Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (2/28/2011 - 5/29/2011): "Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin", ex. cat. no. 21, p. 112-113.

Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).

The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-March 8, 1987).

Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).

Masterworks from The Phillips Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 20-May 29, 2005).

Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin. Palazzo dei Diamanti, 44110 Ferrara, Italy (October 17, 2010-January 30, 2011); Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (February 28-May 29, 2011).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1974.1