The Monkey Painter by Jean-Baptiste Chardin

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The Monkey Painter
Source: Musée du Louvre
Monkeys are always funny, right? To celebrate April Fool’s Day—the day devoted to humor—I want to share Jean-Baptiste Chardin’s The Monkey Painter, one of the most famous and entertaining examples of the singerie style.

As the name suggests (singerie is derived from the French word for monkey), the singerie style is primarily characterized by depictions of monkeys engaged in human behaviors. Although this style dates back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, the style became particularly popular in Europe starting in the sixteenth century and lasting into the early eighteenth century. During this time, singerie was all the rage, with wealthy individuals amassing collections of singerie paintings and sculptures.

The style was popular primarily because the paintings were humorous and entertaining, but many were also well known as satirical works of art that offered a commentary on contemporary life. Although in modern times most people tend to associate other primates with intelligence, in early modern Europe monkeys symbolized a degenerate version of humanity. Thus, satirical singerie paintings typically took a critical view of human behavior.

The Monkey Painter was created toward the middle of the eighteenth century, towards the end of the singerie craze. Chardin seems to have painted the piece as a critique of his own profession. The Monkey Painter can be read as a jab at the pomposity and self-importance of the art world. By this time in the history of art, French art was heavily influenced by the Royal Academy, which set particular standards and rules for acceptable art. This introduced a degree of conformity and a hesitancy to innovate that Chardin criticizes in The Monkey Painter.

The painting implies that any monkey can copy the prescribed style of the academy. And, even though the monkey dresses himself in fine clothes, this does not conceal his lack of originality and talent.

However, above all things, the piece is meant to entertain and put a smile on the face of viewers. I hope it will make you smile this April Fool’s day.

Note: My source for much of the information presented in this post is James W Singer's article on the Monkey Painter.

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