
Around 1700, as an increasingly pious Louis XIV withdrew to Versailles, Paris flourished. The dynamic artistic scene included specialists such as Claude Gillot (1673–1722) who forged a career largely outside of the Royal Academy, designing everything from opera costumes to tapestries. Known primarily as a draftsman, Gillot specialized in scenes of satire.
Claude Gillot, Scene of the Two Carriages, ca. 1710-12. Oil on canvas. Département des peintures, Musée du Louvre, Paris; RF2405. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY