Jean-Siméon Chardin,
'The Young Schoolmistress', probably 1735-6.
London, The National Gallery.

Travelling Companions: Chardin and Freud

Jean-Siméon Chardin: 'The Young Schoolmistress'
Lucian Freud: Two Paintings and an Etching after Chardin

29 September - 25 November 2001, Ulster Museum, Belfast
1 December 2001 - 3 February 2002, Christchurch Museum, Ipswich
9 February - 7 April 2002, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

Lucian Freud is one of twenty-four artists who were invited to produce new work in response to a painting in the National Gallery for the exhibition 'Encounters'. Freud, who has been described as 'the greatest living realist painter', chose Chardin and worked at night in the Gallery in front of 'The Young Schoolmistress' to produce his own variations on Chardin's work - two paintings and an etching. Although superficially like Chardin's original, Freud's variations make subtle changes and are more broadly painted, giving a new psychological intensity to the subject. This exhibition took Chardin's painting and Freud's three responses on tour to three regional venues.


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