A picture of similar dimensions that may represent a pendant to the present work was sold at Tajan, Paris, 14 December 1998, lot 274, as 'Attributed to Hugues (Jean H.) Taraval'.
After spending his early years in Stockholm, where he was taught by his father, Guillaume-Thomas Taraval, Jean-Hugues entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Pierre in Paris. In 1769 he was reçu as a member of the Académie Royale with the Triumph of Bacchus for the ceiling of the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre and was appointed a professor in 1785. As a decorative painter he was much in demand, receiving commissions for the Ecole Militaire (1773), the Collège de France (1777) and Versailles (1780). He also exhibited regularly at the Salon. His paintings are reliant on the work of François Boucher, Charles-Joseph Natoire and his former master, Pierre.
An alternative attribution has also been suggested for the two works to Dumont le Romain (Paris 1707-1781).
See front cover illustration for detail.