La Fontaine

Art Historical Context

**La Fontaine (The Fountain), 1739** Jean Siméon Chardin, master of French Rococo painting celebrated for his intimate domestic scenes, originally created the composition for this etching and engraving, skillfully reproduced by Charles Nicolas Cochin. Depicting a quiet interior with a woman tending to household chores amid urns and buckets near a fountain or sink, the print captures the serene beauty of everyday life. Chardin's subtle realism—his masterful play of light on humble objects—elevates ordinary moments, reflecting 18th-century bourgeois domesticity in Paris. This second state of three showcases the printmakers' precision: etching for fine lines and tonal effects, engraving for crisp details, allowing Chardin's textures to shine through on paper. Measuring about 10 11/16 × 11 13/16 inches, it was a popular reproductive print, making his art accessible beyond paintings. Acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art via the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1953, it highlights printmaking's role in democratizing high art during the Enlightenment era. Chardin's influence endures in his empathetic gaze on the working class, blending poetry with practicality—a timeless reminder of art's power to find grace in the mundane.

About the Artist

Jean Siméon Chardin|Charles Nicolas Cochin I · 1699–1779

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, born on November 2, 1699, in Paris to a cabinetmaker father who crafted billiard tables, grew up immersed in the city's artisan world on the Left Bank near Saint-Sulpice. His early training came through apprenticeships with the history painters Pierre-Jacques Cazes, where he honed academic drawing techniques, and Noël-Nicolas Coypel, whose assignment to copy a musket ...