Jean-Baptiste Mallet (1759, Grasse - French genre painter. First a student of Julian Simon in Toulon, then Pierre-Paul Prud'hon in Paris, Mallet is best remembered for his small-scale gouaches and watercolors. Not by any stretch a great painter - most of his work is actually rather crude - his work has nevertheless become well known as a valuable chronicle of fashion and interior design from the last days of the ancien régime, through the Revolution, to the Directoire and First Empire.
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| This and the next two paintings are typical of the racy images being created at the time and eagerly collected by "discriminating clientele". |
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| Outright pornography was also being produced in large quantities, even by established and otherwise "serious" artists. |
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| (This is another version of the painting at the top of the page.) |
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| (A slightly later work - which I actually like a lot.) |
