Paris, "Basket of Strawberries," Chardin's masterpiece, goes up for auction

Going up for auction on December 23, 2022 at Artcurial in Paris is a masterpiece by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (Paris, 1699 - 1779), The Basket of Woodland Strawberries, one of the great French artist’s most important still lif es. Chardin painted about one hundred and twenty still lifes, often depicting the same subject: objects, fruits, particularly silver chalices, teapots, hares, plums, melons, and peaches. This still life is the only one signed by the artist in which wild strawberries appear as the main theme.

The work has an illustrious history: it was in fact exhibited by the artist at the 1761 Salon (although it went virtually unnoticed), and was later rediscovered by François Marcille a century later, before disappearing from public view until the retrospectives dedicated to the artist organized in Paris in the 20th century. Now it is brought to the market by Cabinet Turquin, with a very high estimate: between 12 and 15 million euros. The high valuation is due to the fact that The Basket of Woodland Strawberries is one of the most important 18th-century French works that has remained in private hands. Today it is one of the icons of Chardin’s art, and has often been displayed in exhibitions on the artist.

An ideal continuation of the rare depictions of strawberry bowls by 17th-century Nordic and French painters such as Jacob van Hulsdonck, Adriaen Coorte, and Louyse Moillon, The Strawberry Basket is a painting that thus continues this tradition, but is already projected into modernity. Indeed, the subject matter in this work by Chardin is almost less important than its representation in volume and form, as shown by the cylinder of glasses and the triangle formed by the strawberries. Chardin is especially appreciated for the silence that hovers in his works, for the poetry emanating from the realization of ordinary objects, which is an invitation to meditate and a step back from the coeval whirlwind.

The painting is directly comparable with other still lifes by Chardin such as The Basket of Plums kept at the Louvre and The Glass of Water and the Cup of Coffee at the Carnegie Institute of Art in Pittsburgh, dated to the same period and both regarded as absolute masterpieces. At the time, Chardin was at the height of his career as an artist. The painter’s virtuosity is evident in the transparency of the water in the glass; the depiction of the fruit is precise and fluid, as if it were a single form. The modernity of Chardin’s still lifes finds important echoes in the production of his contemporaries, as Impressionists, particularly with Fantin Latour, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and the rigor of his geometric compositions will return in the 20th century in the works of Paul Cézanne, Giorgio Morandi, until Wayne Thiebault.

The strawberry basket, as anticipated, was rediscovered by the painter and collector François Marcille (Orléans, 1790 - Paris, 1856), who was accustomed to scouring flea markets together with another great enthusiast, Louis La Caze, and in this way both gave life to their collections. The Marcille collection, which included some 4,500 paintings, with 40 canvases by Boucher, 30 by Chardin and 25 by Fragonard, was later divided between his two sons Eudoxe (1814-1890) and Camille (1816-1875). The older brother showed the same appetite as his father for discoveries and acquisitions, as every Monday he welcomed enthusiasts such as the Goncourt brothers and the young Edgar Degas, as well as colleagues of Dr. Louis La Caze.

In March 1861, Eudoxe Marcille became a member of the Museums Advisory Commission and a member of the jury at the Great Exhibition in London. In 1865, he joined the jury of the annual Salons, first for engravings, then for painting. In 1870 he became director of the Musée d’Orléans where he brought great dynamism to the existing collection. The strawberry basket has remained in the hands of Eudoxe Marcille’s descendants to this day.

Pictured: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, The Basket of St rawberries (oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm; Private collection)

Paris, "Basket of Strawberries," Chardin's masterpiece, goes up for auction

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