Getty Museum
Study of a Seated Man (recto); Study of a Male Nude (verso)
Creator
Jean-Siméon ChardinFrench Artist · 1699–1779
All works by this person →Unlike François Boucher, with whom he shared many patrons, Chardin was not interested in the superficial; it was the very essence of objects and the underlying humanity of his figures that he evoked with tiny slabs of saturated paint. "We use colors," said Chardin, "but we paint with our feelings." A Parisian carpenter's son, Chardin learned from a modest artist and began by painting signposts for
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1720–1725
- Medium
- Charcoal and white chalk
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Jean-Siméon Chardin had the ability to infuse the most ordinary scenes of everyday life with an aura of dignity and value. In this simple drawing, a man wearing a large brimmed hat and long frock coat relaxes with his cane in his hands on a square box or stool and looks away over his right shoulder. Chardin built up the forms with a series of rapid, somewhat heavy, black lines, heightened with additional strokes of white chalk that give a sense of immediacy and vibrancy to the otherwise static image. With a few bold strokes, he established a mood of quiet contemplation generated by his own direct observation and that of the seated man, who gazes off into the distance. Chardin made this figure study in preparation for a painting. On the verso, Chardin drew an *académie,* a study of a nude man, probably made during his early artistic training. All of Chardin's known drawings date from his early career, as he gave up draftsmanship by the 1730s.
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