Jean-Baptiste Pillement

Jean-Baptiste Pillement (24 May 1728 – 26 April 1808) was a French painter and designer, known for his exquisite and delicate landscapes, but whose importance lies primarily in the engravings done after his drawings, and their influence in spreading the Rococo style and particularly the taste for chinoiserie throughout Europe.

In 1743, at the age of 15, he moved from Lyon to Paris where he was employed by Jean-Baptiste Oudry as an apprentice designer at the "Manufacture de Beauvais".

A landscape dated 1748 reveals rustic themes he was to repeat often: sun-bathed shepherds leading their goats and sheep to a cascading stream, a water mill, rocky elevations covered in lush vegetation, and the poeticized relics of an ancient bridge.

The lure of travel compelled him to decline an offer to become court painter to King Joseph of Portugal, and he worked at Queluz (Sintra) for Jan Gildemeester.

During this period he became acquainted with David Garrick, the famous actor, and his Austrian wife Eva Maria Weigel, who became avid collectors of his work.