Anonymous sale, London, Bonhams Knightsbridge, 10 April 2019, lot 195.

 

This small scene evokes a feeling of comfort, as a tired family of travellers are welcomed into an inn. The work reveals Jean-Baptiste Pillement's keen interest in the dramatic effects of light: the lantern held by the innkeeper illuminates the entire scene, casting sharp shadows onto the door and onto the rocky earth in the foreground. Pillement was a peripatetic artist, travelling to Portugal, England, Italy, Austria and Poland. In Poland, he worked for Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, earning the title 'Premier Peintre du Roi'.