Pierre Alexandre Wille, French, 1748 to 1821, Rococo oil on canvas painting Soothing the Child. The beautifully detailed painting depicts a young elegant mother embracing her child. Signed and dated on the lower right: P.A. Wille filius pxit 1780 no. 50 Housed in an old richly decorated gilt wood and gesso frame. Provenance: Christies New York, Rockefeller Center, Old Masters Paintings and Sculpture, October 1. 20. 2020, lot 189. Please refer to the original auction paper labels attached to the backside. Note: Pierre-Alexandre Wille was a French Rococo artist. The son of Jean-Georges Wille began his apprenticeship with Jean-Baptiste Greuze in 1761 and continued his studies with Joseph-Marie Vien from 1763. In 1774 he was admitted to the Academie Royale. In his paintings, he initially specialized in bourgeois genre scenes, but from 1789 he sided with the revolution and soon fell into oblivion with his soldier-patriotic paintings. One of a kind artwork. Antique European Fine Art For Collectors.