Attributed to Michel-François Dandré-Bardon (Aix-en-Provence 1700-1783 Paris)

The oeuvre of Michel François Bardon has only been rediscovered in the last twenty years. A pupil of both Jean-Baptiste van Loo and Jean-François de Troy, he spent five years in Rome and a further six months in Venice before returning to Paris where he was reçu into the Académie in 1735. This picture, with its sumptious handling and painterly quality, certainly shows the influence of Venetian painting, which Dandré-Bardon certainly would have been encouraged to emulate by Nicolas Vleughels, the Director of the Académie in Rome at the time.