Chardin's masterpiece, le Melon Entame (1760), has just been sold for a record amount of 26.7 million euros. This is the highest sum ever paid in the world for an 18th century French painting. But also the best sale ever made in France on an old painting. And this, for a cut fruit.
26.7 million euros. This is the colossal auction at which Chardin's painting was sold on June 12 at Christie's in Paris. We are far from the three-digit sums of the great Monet,Basquiat, Warhol, Munch, or Rubens, but it is nevertheless the most beautiful sum ever seen in France for an old painting. It is all the more surprising that this record amount was spent on a still life, a somewhat denigrated and unloved genre. But this is not just any still life.
Jean-Siméon Chardin, undisputed master of still life
After the Basket of Wild Strawberries,a magnificent still life all in balance and delicacy by the same artist sold for 24.4 million euros in 2022 and now bought by the Louvre Museum, here is another work by Jean-Siméon Chardin breaks the record for the most expensive painting sold in France. This time it is not strawberries, but a melon, a quarter of which has been cut and balanced on the fruit, next to some peaches, pears and plums, arranged near a pitcher and a bottle. A simple scene that one could have encountered in many 18th century kitchens. The eminent still life specialist chose to highlight it with a round frame, which echoes the roundness of the melon.
“Le Melon Entame is a pure moment of pictorial poetry , a perfect moment where all the magic of Chardin is expressed: the balance of composition, light, colors, shapes ,” commented Pierre Étienne, international director of the Old Paintings department at Christie's, in a press release . The work, dated and signed 1760 , is one of the last paintings painted by the French artist (1699-1779), then at the peak of his art . It was estimated between 8 and 12 million euros, but buyers went well beyond this market price. “Today old paintings are very sought after, the market for 18th century French paintings is very buoyant,” explained on France Culture, at the start of the year, specialist Éric Turquin, then in charge of the Basket of Wild Strawberries sale. , which had also been underestimated at between 10 and 15 million euros.
A work that goes into the hands of a rich European collector
It must be said that the painting was presented by the painter at the Salon de l'Académie de Peintures et de Sculptures in 1761 alongside its counterpart, The Apricot Jar, now kept at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto... and the famous Strawberry Basket. The latter would also have gone across the Atlantic, before the Louvre intervened and asked the French to help finance the buy , which was too expensive for its budget.
This time, it was a mysterious European buyer who acquired Le Melon entame , which had previously belonged to a Louis XV goldsmith, then to the 19th century French collector François Marcille, before being sold to the Rothschild family, according to Connaissance des Arts. The Louvre was unable to intervene this time. However, it is not known whether it will be exhibited in a gallery or museum. seen in France Culture © www.vwart.com
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