Le Buffet

Le Buffet (1728) by Jean Siméon Chardin. Its palette is led by bistre (#2a221a, 39%) and dark amber brown (#4b3f35, 35%), with accents of amber brown and pale tan. Overall the canvas is dark, muted and warm.

Color reading

Brown and black cover more than nine-tenths of the canvas. Even its most colorful tone, pale tan #C4B19B, stays close to gray.

Palette

#2a221a MG 219 bistre 39.4% of canvas
#4b3f35 MG 168 dark amber brown 34.5% of canvas
#16110b MG 220 warm black 12.9% of canvas
#726455 MG 175 stone 8.7% of canvas
#9a8a77 MG 165 amber brown 3.4% of canvas
#c4b19b MG 163 pale tan 1.1% of canvas

Color families

Brown 53%, Black 40%, Gray 7%, Red 0%, Orange 0%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.33
Contrast: 0.38
Vividness: 0.018
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 91 cells
Hue range: 0.28
Focus: 0.11

Composition

56% of the visual weight is in the left half, 59% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.55 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 46% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 23% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1728
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 194.0 × 129.0 cm
Genre: still life
Collection: Department of Paintings of the Louvre

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More by Jean Siméon Chardin

The Ray, 1727
Boy with a Spinning-Top, 1738