When I was four or five years old I lived near the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, at a time when you could still park on the mall on a Sunday afternoon, and walk to the museum in hot summer sunshine. My black patent leather Mary Janes slid on the cool floors of the museum, and the fountain set in the midst of greenery still splashes gently in my mind. My mother thought it very important to have art on our walls, and the prints at the gallery were very inexpensive. We had a lot of them tacked up. What fun then to read about Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, the great painter of children.

https://theshymuseumgoer.com/2025/05/02/chardin-paintings-of-children-and-childhood/

The Shy Museumgoer has a lovely article about Chardin that begins with the painting of a boy blowing soap bubbles.
She discusses six of Chardin’s paintings of children in her article and then includes one of Chardin’s self-portraits. Go Read It.

Tucker mentions Rousseau saying that parents should encourage children’s questions because it would help create a love of learning. I think this is true, but funny, coming from Rousseau. He gave away all his children to orphanages, where I doubt that anyone spent lots of time answering their questions.

I visited the National Gallery of Art website and found another Chardin painting, a child building card houses.

The Shy Museumgoer was concentrating on children in art, but Chardin did a great job painting servants as well.

Then I realized that Chardin is responsible for a painting of dead animals at the National Gallery, which I have always hated. Look it up if you must. (It’s called Still Life With Game.) Way better to concentrate on those amazing children, blowing bubbles, spinning tops, or playing badminton.