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

The Prayer before Meal

1744
Oil on canvas, 50 x 38 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The younger child obediently repeats the prayer after the mother while the older girl is more concerned with food. The didactic meaning of this common 18th-century subject is obvious.