(Paris 1719–1790) River landscape with washerwomen, signed below left: ‘N. J. Julliard’, oil on canvas, 38 x 42 cm, framed

As a gifted pupil of Boucher, whose early, freely drawn bucolic landscapes are reflected in his oeuvre, Julliard received a grant in 1751 to travel to Italy, where he produced several views of the countryside surrounding Rome. It is probable that he spent time in Venice, since his work betrays the clear influence of the works of Giuseppe Zais. After being accepted as an Agrée (associate) of the Academy by 1754, he was elected as a full member in 1759 with a landscape by rising sun, which he signed as N. J. Juilliard. Like his teacher, Boucher he also concerned himself with designs for tapestries and Gobelin tapestry production. After a bried period in Beauvais he took over the artistic direction of the factories in Aubusson and Felletin. Very few of his cheerful landscapes, which are redolent of the Rococo longing for a bucolic ideal, are still extant (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours). They link the idealised French landscape painting of Boucher with the fast and free characteristic style of his Italian contemporaries. We are grateful to Dr Alberto Cottino, University of Ravenna, for information about the Venetian influence in this painting (e-mail to the consignor dated 29.06.2009).