Pillement

Jean-Baptiste Pillement, often called Jean Pillement, a painter of landscapes and flowers, distinguished himself across numerous media – oil, watercolor, chalk, pen, and pastel – and in a wide range of genres, with the exception of history painting and portraiture. He produced flower pieces, animal scenes, landscapes, and marine views, tirelessly recreating nature for decorative purposes while preserving its picturesque, pleasing, or striking character.

In his youth, Pillement began his training under his father Paul and his uncle Philippe, who intended him for the drawing of flowers, a Lyonnais tradition linked to the textile industry. A pupil of the painter Daniel Sarrabat (1666-1748) and perhaps of his son, he also spent time at the Gobelins in the workshop of the flower painter Jean-Marc Ladey (1710-1749). From 1745 onward, he travelled to Spain and spent some time in Madrid. In 1750, he was in Portugal, where he held various posts, including that of painter at the Royal Silk Factory in Lisbon. In London from 1754 to 1760, he published A New Book of Chinese Design and established himself as the pre-eminent painter of chinoiseries – a burgeoning fashion – particularly with the execution, in 1757, of a series of Chinese decorations for David Garrick (1716-1779). Pillement then embarked on a succession of travels that cemented his international reputation: Italy in 1762, followed by Austria in 1763–64, where he left masterpieces of decorative art such as the Porcelain Room at Schönbrunn and the Blue Pastel Salon at the Blauer Hof in Laxenburg (whose superb blue monochrome pastel works are now in the Museen der Stadt, Vienna). After Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790) denied him the opportunity to direct a fabric-printing manufactory in France, he travelled to Poland in 1765–67, participating in numerous projects, including a Chinese apartment for the king at Ujazdów, and collaborating with Jan Ścisło (1792-1804) and the portraitist Per Krafft (1724-1793) on several undertakings, among them the decoration of the Royal Cabinet. Though appointed Painter to the King of Poland, he returned to France for a brief stay during which he became painter to the city of Avignon and exhibited at the Académie de Toulouse, before departing again for London.

His landscapes were increasingly admired, and in 1778 he received a commission for three paintings for the Petit Trianon. During his second sojourn in Portugal, he worked for Queen Maria I and for members of the aristocracy, including the Marquis of Marialva in Sintra. He was entrusted with depicting, in several representations, the shipwreck of the Spanish vessel San Pedro de Alcántara off the Portuguese coast – an event he is thought to have witnessed. These paintings were presented to the Spanish Count Fernán Núñez. Several versions survive in Lisbon (Instituto Português do Património Cultural) and in Madrid (Prado). In 1789, Pillement settled near his sister Louise in Pézenas in Languedoc, where he grew close to the painter Jacques Gamelin (1738-1803) and took part in the Salon of the Académie de Toulouse. He worked as far as Bordeaux, producing numerous landscapes that continued to be sought after by collectors. He ended his life in Lyon, his native city, where he remained active as a painter until the end.

These two pastels, of exceptional size, were executed in 1782 during Jean Pillement’s second stay in Portugal, a period generally regarded as the pinnacle of his career. The artist was then in full command of his technical abilities, and produced ambitious, assured compositions, confidently renewing his pictorial vocabulary. Pillement would repeat these two compositions on several occasions – varying the figures and accessory elements – attesting to their success among patrons and collectors. A closely related pastel showing a near-identical view of the river in reverse was sold at Christie’s.¹ A Mountainous Landscape with a Man on a Donkey, now in the Musée du Louvre, is also very comparable to our rocky river landscape, though smaller in scale², as is a Landscape with Shepherds and a Tower in a private collection.³ The View of the Tagus River likewise reappears in an oil on canvas, A Cove with Fishermen at Work, signed Year VII (1798–99), together with its pendant (private collection).⁴ Both pastels are here associated in order to form a pair illustrating two moments of the day – morning and evening – a courant habit within the landscapes collectors during the 18^th century.