The Kimbell Art Museum has acquired a rare 18th-century French painting previously caught at the center of a lawsuit between an international auction house and a private buyer.
The Fort Worth art institution has added “The Cut Melon” by Jean Siméon Chardin to its permanent collection. Dated 1760, the painting has long been celebrated for its oval shape — which was rare in the French artist’s catalog. The Kimbell declined to disclose the price it paid for the piece.
The painting becomes the second Chardin artwork to be displayed at the Kimbell, joining the museum’s “Young Student Drawing.” The Kimbell Art Foundation purchased the latter in 1982.
“It is no secret that we have long hoped for a great Chardin still life for the Kimbell, where the artist’s visual poetry would be so at home in the museum’s galleries,” Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum, said in a statement. “We are ecstatic to have now acquired a Chardin still life of such beauty and quality.”
“The Cut Melon” had previously been sold by auction house Christie’s to Italian real estate investor Nanni Bassani Antivari for a record-breaking $28.76 million. The June 2024 sale smashed the painting’s estimated value range, which was set between $8.57 million and $12.8 million.
But the sale never came to be. In December, Christie’s filed a lawsuit in Paris against Antivari for refusal to pay for the Chardin painting. The company demanded the investor pay the full price plus interest and penalty fees.
After the bidder failed to complete the transaction, the Kimbell — the original underbidder in the auction for the artwork — was able to purchase the painting directly from the descendants of its previous owners, the Rothschild family.
“The Cut Melon” was first owned by Jacques Roëttiers de La Tour, goldsmith to the French king. The artwork was purchased by the painter François Marcille in the early 19th century. The painting was then passed to his son Camille before it was acquired by socialite Charlotte de Rothschild, an arts patron, in 1876. The artwork remained in the family collection until now.
The painting will be on view beginning May 22 in the Kimbell’s Louis I. Khan Building. Admission to the Kimbell’s collection is free.
“‘The Cut Melon’ is one of the great masterpieces of eighteenth-century French painting and will be cherished by the Kimbell and loved by its visitors for generations to come,” Lee said in a statement.
Breakdown of the art
Chardin was the leading exponent of both still-life and genre painting in 18th-century France. He was most known for his still lifes of game and kitchen scenes before expanding his artwork to incorporate servants and children.
“The Cut Melon” features a ripe slice of cantaloupe sitting on the open cut of the melon below. A basket filled with yellow and red peaches sits in front of the cantaloupe. In front of the basket are three small greengage plums.
Two corked bottles of liquor and two pears appear on the left side of the painting. Behind the basket of peaches is a white ceramic pitcher decorated with flowers.
The painting was created as a pendant, or pairing, to Chardin’s 1758 artwork “The Jar of Apricots,” which now resides at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected] or @davidmreports.
Disclosure: Kimbell Art Museum has been a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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