In this artwork, how is the Hermitage version of the The painting elucidated?
A version in the Hermitage Museum dated 1744 was for many years thought to be the only signed and dated version of this painting. It is signed in the bottom left hand corner. Chardin was presented to Louis XV at the Palace of Versailles on 27 November 1740 by Philibert Orry, the king's superintendent of buildings and controller general of finances – Chardin's only meeting with the monarch. This was one of two paintings the artist presented to Louis on that occasion; the Mercure de France reported that the king "received [the paintings] very favourably; these two little works are already well known, having been exhibited at the Salon in the Louvre last August. We mentioned them in the October Mercure, under the title The Laborious Mother and Saying Grace." The work entered the Hermitage Museum between 1763 and 1774 under Catherine II of Russia.
Hermitage version Louis XV Mercure de France Palace of Versailles Hermitage Museum Salon Philibert Orry Catherine II of Russia Louvre