Michel-Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié (Paris 1735-1784)

Bertaud (circa 1700-1771; also spelled Berthault and Berteau) was the founder of the French school of cello playing although he began his career studying the bass viol. Very few works by him survive. Lépicié also painted this composition, on panel and in an oval format (Gaston, op. cit., p. 55, no. 92). This drawing was later engraved by Frédéric Désiré Hillemacher (1811-1886).