Still Life With a Hare

¶ … Life with a Hare

The painting entitled "Still Life with a Hare," painted by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin in 1730, is typical for its time in that hunting scenes were quite popular in Europe during this time period, especially in France, but the piece is atypical in its simplicity and tone. Whereas most traditional pieces in this genre depict the game, bloodied and slaughtered amidst hunting implements and the hunter who brought the creature down, this piece instead contains just the hare and a couple of hunting implements: a horn powder flask and hunting bag.

Chardin created what are considered some of the greatest still-life paintings of the eighteenth century, and he chose his subject matter quite deliberately. He was averse to hunting and apparently wanted to express in his paintings the feeling that while he did not share his countrymen's passion for the hunt, he could appreciate the stark beauty and simplicity in the game they sought so hard to bring down. Chardin's painting is subdued in tone. It does not depict the conquering of nature by man, rather it depicts man's partnership in nature. Just as Native Americans gave thanks in a quiet ceremony both before and after a hunt, honoring the spirit of the animal whose fate it was to die that day, so, too, does Chardin clearly pay homage to the slain hare by depicting it in such a simple, direct fashion.

This painting currently hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was created on canvas using oil paints. It is almost monochromatic in tone, with its various hues of brown, and the colors are subdued and simple. The hare is almost directly in the center of the picture, with his legs splayed to either side, forming a V, and the powder flask and hunting bag are off to the right. The especially interesting aspect of this painting and what really draws the viewer to it is how Chardin has used color and light in such a way as to make the hare seem to protrude from the canvas. One feels, upon viewing the picture, that one could reach right out and feel the crisp fur of the hare and its stiff body, the supple leather of the hunting bag, and the smooth surface of the powder horn.