Joseph François Parrocel was from a family of artists. He was a pupil of his father Pierre Parrocel (1670-1739). Pierre and Joseph-François travelled together to Rome in 1736. The latter was made an Agrée at the Académie Royale as a history painter in 1753, and exhibited at the Salon between 1755 and 1781. He was a favorite painter of the Benedictines, and worked on one of their most important commissions, for the decoration of the Abbey at Mont Saint-Quentin, near Amiens, between 1755-6. The period between 1750 and 1760 was very active for religious commissions, and Parrocel, together with Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777) and Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre (1714-1789) were its main exponents.

The present drawing has not been identified with any specific commission-indeed many of his cycles have been destroyed-however our drawing is comparable to other known drawings by the artist¹, which is a relatively small oeuvre.

¹. Thomas Agnews & Sons Ltd., London, Master Drawings & Sculpture, 1989,  no. 9, and a pair of drawings, one signed at Sotheby’s New York, 10th January 1995, lot 130.

Contact Crispian Riley-Smith, Old Master Drawings, London for availability or additional information.