(Paris 1729–1785)
Two Chinoiserie paintings of frolicking children,
oil on canvas, each 80.4 x 98 cm, framed
a pair (2)

Provenance:
Didier Aaron, Paris;
Private collection, Palm Beach, Florida

The present pair of paintings are a elegant expression of the Rococo’s enthusiastic interest in exoticism. It is likely that they are in some way related to the original Chinese Pavilion in Drottningholm Castle, which was completed in 1753, and which was one of the most brilliant European examples of this architectural and artistic era. The original Chinese Pavilion was given by King Adolf Fredrik to his consort, Ulrika Eleonora, in 1753, on her 34th birthday, and was a summerhouse for the royals to relax in which provided a private world of amusement and delight. As part of the artistic atmosphere at the Stockholm Court of Frederik Adolf and Queen Louisa Ulrika, Chinoiserie was very much in fashion, undoubtedly influenced by the Queen, who clearly had the same tastes as her brother Frederic the Great of Prussia. It is therefore very likely that the present pair was executed either shortly before or after the death of Taraval’s father, Guillaume-Thomas Taraval, who had been the first director of the National Academy of Sweden in 1750. Jean Hughues Taraval had spent his youth and artistic education in Stockholm and received his training in his father’s studio. At his father’s death he went to Paris and entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Pierre. In 1756 he won the Prix de Rome with his work Job Reproached by his Wife (Marseille, Mus. Beaux -Arts), and then spent the years 1756-9 at the École des Elevés Protegés. From 1759 to 1763 he was at the Académie de France in Rome. On his return to France he was approved at the Académie Royale in 1765 with Venus and Adonis (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum.). He was received as a full member in 1769 with the Triumph of Bacchus (in situ) for the ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre, and was appointed a professor in 1785. His work as a decorative painter, exemplified in the Apotheosis of Psyche (c. 1773) on the ceiling of the Salon D’or of the Hotel Grimod d’Orsay, Paris, was in great demand: he also received commissions for the Chateau de Bellevue (1762), the École Militaire (1773), Paris, the College de France (1777), Paris, the chateau of Versailles (1780) and the chateau of Marly (1781). He was also appointed as an inspector of the Gobelins Factory.