Still Life with Peaches, a Silver Goblet, Grapes, and Walnuts  1760

"It is the air and light you take with the tip of your brush and fix to your canvas...[your work] exists between nature and art," wrote Denis Diderot of Jean-Siméon Chardin in his Salon review of 1765. In still lifes, genre scenes, and the occasional portrait, Chardin's skill at rendering the visual and tactile qualities of simple objects won him the admiration of critics ...