Pierre Rosenberg is a member of the Académie Française, honorary president-director of the Musée du Louvre, and specialist in French and Italian paintings and drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries. He is one of the foremost experts on Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), about whom he has written extensively.

In 1979, Rosenberg organised a major retrospective of Chardin’s work in the Grand Palais. Basket of Wild Strawberries was a central feature, and appeared on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.

‘In this painting Chardin has surpassed himself: the freedom of the white and red harmony, simultaneously bold and elegant, renders the work unforgettable. By avoiding showy brilliance, with an ease and assurance unequalled in his own time, Chardin has created, with a disconcerting and apparent ease, one of his most beautiful still lifes.’
(Extract from the exhibition catalogue)