Pierre-Antoine Quillard

[1] When he was ten or eleven, his paintings were deemed such perfect copies of Watteau's style that Cardinal Fleury presented some to King Louis XV, who granted Quillard a pension.

After spending some time working on Merveilleux's Flora, he was able to obtain an appointment as court painter to King John V in 1727.

Together with several other French and Flemish artists, he was commissioned to illustrate publications issued by the Academia Portuguesa de História, which had been founded in 1721.

He worked for the Marquis of Alegrete and the Count of Ericeira and produced decorations for the palace of the Duke of Cadaval.

[2] Because of the huge demand for paintings in Watteau's style that arose after his death in 1721, very few works have been positively identified as Quillard's and a catalogue raisonné has yet to be created.