Biography

French painter and etcher. He was the pupil of François Boucher. His subjects were genre paintings and landscapes. He won the first prize from the Royal Academy of Painting in 1762 (ten years after Fragonard, another of Boucher's pupils).

He illustrated the 'The mad day, or the marriage of Figaro' (La Folle journée, ou le mariage de Figaro) (1784) by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799). His drawings, one for each of the five acts of the play, were engraved by various artists. They help to recreate the atmosphere of the first publication in 1784, and they are still suggestive as to staging.