Jean-Claude Richard
Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non was a French painter and printmaker. He was born, and also died, in Paris. He is often rather misleadingly known as the "Abbé de Saint-Non"; although intended for the church by his family, he never took more than minor orders. He was a pioneer of the aquatint technique in printmaking.Family background and history
His family estate, from which he derives his full title, is the Château de Saint-Nom. It is located in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in Yvelines, France. The land was purchased by his father, Jean-Pierre Richard, a wealthy French lord.Richard, who had an interest in printmaking, travelled to Rome in 1759 where he met and befriended French artists Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert, both of whom were studying at the French Academy in Rome.
Richard made numerous prints of both Fragonard's and Robert's work, including Robert's Vue prise dans les jardins de Villa Mattei aux environs de Rome in 1761.
Fragonard later painted a portrait of Richard, which is in the Louvre.
