The White Tablecloth

A long ivory cloth spreads across the front of a tabletop, a knife with its handle jutting over the edge, a glass lying overturned beside a pitcher, and the scattered remains of a meal — fruit, a napkin, a bowl — arranged with the grave, unhurried clarity that made Chardin the most admired still-life painter of his century. He painted this early work about 1731–32, incorporating motifs from the Dutch and Flemish masters of the previous age, and the canvas’s unusual width reveals its original purpose as a screen set before a fireplace, the painted table appearing to recede into the hearth when viewed from the floor. The picture came to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1944 with the Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection. The painting is held in the Art Institute of Chicago.