Georges-François Blondel (1730-after 1791)

The son of Jacques-François Blondel (1705-1774), architect to Louis XV, Blondel was a printmaker as well as a draughtsman. Examples of his mezzotint interiors of classicised churches are in the British Museum, such as the View of the Vestibule of S. Maria Maggiore (inv. 1917,1208.1034). Blondel's drawings tend to be charming capriccios in the tradition established by Hubert Robert: a comparable work was sold at Christie's, South Kensington, 12 December 1996, lot 180.