A pupil of Giacomo Barilli and Francesco Bibiena, Joseph Chamant became a member of the Académie in Nancy where he also worked for Prince Charles of Lorraine. Before 1740, he followed the Archduke François Stéphane of Lorraine to Italy where he was appointed professor and consul to the Florentine academy in 1746. After his patron's inauguration as Emperor Francis I in Vienna, Chamant became painter and architect to the Imperial Court.
Only three other drawings by the artist are known: a design related to Francesco Bibiena's project for the Teatro Filarmonico of Verona (Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York), an elaborate architectural fantasy dated 1743 (Berlin), and a signed detail of a design for a stage set (Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana)