Still Life with Attributes of the Arts

Still Life with Attributes of the Arts is a painting by the painter Jean Siméon Chardin, made in 1766, which is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The painting is commissioned by Empress Catherine II of Russia, founder of the Hermitage. It represents an allegory of the arts, with a statue of the god Mercury made by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in 1744. To the left of the statue, a painter's palette alludes to Chardin's craft. At its feet, some plans and a square allude to architecture, while books and coins represent literature and goldsmithing. [1] A year earlier, the painter produced a related work, The Attributes of the Arts (1765) from the Louvre Museum in Paris.