Lot 97: Jean-Hughes Taraval (Paris 1729-1785)

Study for the head of a Rabbi, bust-length, in profile, in a red robe with a jewelled clasp signed 'Taraval' (lower left) oil on paper laid down on canvas 19 3/8 x 153/4 in. (49.5 x 40.2 cm.) NOTES After spending his early years in Stockholm, where he was taught by his father, Guillaume-Thomas Taraval, Jean-Hugues entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Pierre in Paris. In 1769 he was re‡u as a member of the Acad‚mie Royale with the Triumph of Bacchus for the ceiling of the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre and appointed a professor in 1785. As a decorative painter he was much in demand, receiving commissions for the Ecole Militaire (1773), the CollŠge de France (1777) and Versailles (1780). He also exhibited regularly at the Salon. His paintings are reliant on the work of Fran‡ois Boucher, Charles-Joseph Natoire and his former master, Pierre.