HUILLIOT, Pierre Nicolas

French painter. He was part of a renowned Parisian painters’ family, son of the still-life painter Claude Huilliot (c. 1632-1702), who worked with Jean Baptiste Monnoyer on the decoration of the châteaux at Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Fontainebleau. His maternal grandfather had worked for Louis XIV and Anne of Austria as ‘Maitre peintre ordinaire des Bâtiments du Roi’ in which capacity he had close contact with Simon Vouet and Eustache Le Sueur.

It was within this rich tradition of the French Baroque that the young Huilliot learned to paint. After having received training from his father, he was an apprentice in the studio of Robert Levrac-Tournieres (1667-1752). He entered the prestigious ‘Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture’ in Paris in 1721 and was first mentioned in the notes of the academy on 30 August of that year for having presented a large painting of a buffet with flowers and fruits. Huilliot was received in December of 1722 as a painter of still-lifes. He exhibited at the Salon of the academy continuously from 1737 to 1750. Throughout his career he specialized in still-life paintings and interior painting and excelled in flower still-lifes.

His works were very popular and he executed numerous commissions for the French Royal family. In 1739, for instance, he was commissioned to decorate the ‘petit appartement de la reine’ at Versailles. Several of his works can still be found in the châteaux at Versailles, Trianon and Fontainebleau.