Chickens

Description A shaft of sunlight illuminates this scene in which five hens and a rooster are portrayed on masonry steps in the corner of a straw-strewn yard. The artist has carefully delineated the variations in the poultry. As early as the late 1840s Jacque began to produce these small poulaillers. A major example of his work in this genre is "La Sieste," illustrated in Jules Claretie, "Catalogue des tableaux, études peintes," Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, November, 1894, no. 24.

Provenance Félix Ziem [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; William T. Walters, Baltimore, between 1878-1884, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] Lower left: ch. Jacque; [Number] On back: no. 475

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1878-1884