Jean Pillement (1728-1808) after an extended stay in England during which he proved his creative talents as a young man in a variety of media, accepted in 1763 the invitation of the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa and Francis I to come to Vienna and work on a number of projects. In the short period of two years, he produced there a prodigious quantity of works including monochrome blue pastel decorative landscapes and seascapes for the Blue Palace of Laxenburg, chinoiserie frescoes for the Palace of Niederweiden, theatrical costumes, landscape drawings and important oils, altogether a typical Pillement mixture full of exuberance, charm, colour and originality.