Прачка

17 September 1734

Born

1750

Move to Paris, Apprenticeship with Boucher

In 1750 he left his native Metz for Paris, where he became one of the best pupils of the painters François Boucher and Joseph-Marie Vien; his early works are close to the Rococo manner of his teachers.

1758

Arrival in Russia

In 1758, at the invitation of Count I. I. Shuvalov, he arrived in Russia with a group of artists to work at the newly founded Academy of Arts; he lived and worked in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where two of his brothers and a sister were already living.

1765

The "Russian Series" at the Salon of 1765

He presented fifteen paintings of scenes from Russian village life at the Salon of 1765, including The Russian Baptism, which earned Diderot's enthusiastic praise, and The Cradle, which he repeated many times.

1768

Pioneer of Aquatint

In 1768 he was the first artist to introduce aquatint into his etchings; he may indeed have been the inventor of this tonal technique, later made famous by Goya. In the history of printmaking he is also known as the inventor of the lavis technique.

30 September 1781

Died