Artwork of the month: "The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them"

Throughout my life, there have been a few paintings that heavily influenced me to become an artist.  As an artist, I partially blame my career choice on this painting.

Jean-baptiste Simeon Chardin

French,1699-1779

"The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them."

1766, oil on canvas.

I saw "The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them" for the first time while on a grade-school field trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It changed me forever (as powerful paintings do).  I already wanted to be an artist, and after seeing this painting, I was convinced that being an artist was the most important work a man could aspire to do.

This painting is currently on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Go check it out and enjoy its truth and lies.

"You can be sure that most of the high positions in the country would be empty if one were admitted only after an examination as severe as the one we painters must pass."

-Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin.