Jean-Baptiste Blin de Fontenay, or Blain de Fontenay, trained in painting with Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, whose daughter he married. He became a member of the Académie in 1687, the year of his marriage.

Fontenay received many commissions, at first thanks to his father-in-law, but later as his equal. There are about sixty paintings by him listed in the royal inventories of the Trianon, Meudon and Marly. Notably, he contributed to the decoration of the Queen’s Staircase at the Château de Versailles. He also became a designer of tapestries at the Gobelins manufactory and of carpets at the Savonnerie manufactory.

A respected artist, with a pension and lodgings in the Louvre, his success in his lifetime was comparable to that of M...