CHARDIN, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon
(b. 1699, Paris, d. 1779, Paris)

Still-Life with Cat and Fish

1728
Oil on canvas, 79 x 63 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Chardin's paintings, inspired by the 17th-century painting of Flanders and Holland, reproduce simple, everyday objects in a direct manner, emphasizing the materiality of the objects and their realism. His contemporary, the critic and theoretician Diderot, praised him for his clarity and truth in the representation of nature.