Brief Biography-Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine was born in 1745 in Burgundy, France. He was a disciple of Francesco Casanova (brother of Giacomo Casanova) and Joseph-Marie Vien; Jean Antoine Watteau later influenced him. He moved to Poland in 1774 and became a court painter to King Stanislaus II Augustus, who bestowed a knighthood on him. He founded an art school in Warsaw and worked for many notable families. In 1804, he returned to Paris, where he died in 1830. Norblin painted many of his works in the style of Rembrandt. Aleksander Orłowski and Jan Rustem were two of his most notable students. His son Sébastien-Louis-Guillaume Norblin de la Gourdaine was a successful historical painter in Paris.