Chardin, Jean Baptiste Sim�on 1699-1779
French painter

Born in Paris, he was the son of Louis XIV's billiard-table maker. He was selected to assist in the restoration of the royal paintings at Fontainebleau, and later attracted attention as a signpainter. In 1728 he exhibited, at the 'Exposition de la Jeunesse', a series of still-life paintings, and was elected to the Acad�mie Fran�aise in the same year. Emerging as a genre painter, he produced many pictures of peasant life and domestic scenes. Grace before Meal (1740, Louvre), perhaps his masterpiece in this vein, earned the praise of Denis Diderot. In 1755 he was appointed treasurer of the Acad�mie Fran�aise, with an apartment in the Louvre. As an exponent of still life and genre he is without equal in French painting, and his composition and colouring is comparable with that of the best Dutch and Flemish masters.