‘La Raie’, (1728) by Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin
Painted around 1728 this masterful still-life has all the qualities of Chardin’s early work. The composition is simple and controlled – Chardin carefully balancing the horizontality of the table with the vertical of the hanging fish. He painted various versions of this subject of a cat in a pantry. Here the cat stretches for the oysters, one paw resting on a faience or porcelain dish.