The Prayer before Meal (detail)

How Chardin paints is far more important than what he paints. Yet his achievement lies in the extraordinary fusion of technique and subject-matter. His people are indeed still-lifes: inexpressive in features, serious and as compact as some man-made object. Child and chair become one in Le Benedicit�. Conveyed through the medium of Chardin’s paint, what might otherwise be a dangerously ‘soft’ theme takes on wonderful toughness, rigorousness, and sobriety.