and Peter Paul Rubens. An example is his allegorical Time Unveiling Truth (1733, National Gallery, London). During his residence in Rome, de Troy was also active as a fresco painter. He made a fresco in the north aisle of the ancient basilica Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio depicting Saint Gerolamo Emiliani introducing orphans to the Virgin. Tableaux de mode His modern reputation relies less on his large history and mythological paintings than on his smaller, (cabinet-sized) scenes of elegant social life, which he painted in Paris between 1725 and 1738. These pictures depict fashionable people from his time in parks or interior settings who are engaged in courting, card playing, or reading to each other. While based on the fêtes galantes of Watteau and Nicolas Lancret and on 17th-century Dutch genre painting, de Troy's compositions distinguish themselves through their detailed rendering of clothing and furnishings. The dress of the protagonists discloses their high social status. These tableaux de mode are also characterized by the meticulous handling of the paint and their luxurious and modish qualities. While Watteau's 'fête galantes' were filled with a sense of mystery and timelessness, de Troy's tableaux de mode were intended to provide a more realistic depiction of contemporary fashions, pastimes and manners. He was able to capture in these compositions the more relaxed behavior of the higher social classes following the death of Louis XIV in 1715 as shown in new fashions and manners. These compositions are believed to be based on de Troy's personal experiences as he was an active member of the fashionable world he depicted. The closeness to Watteau is evidenced by the fact that his The Alarm, or the Gouvernante Fidèle (1723, Victoria and Albert Museum, London) was given to Watteau in the 19th century. De Troy’s tableaux de mode responded to the artistic preferences of a new clientele for art in France: successful bankers and financiers representing a new bourgeois class. They also reflected the developing taste for a new sensuality, which was taken even further during the second half of the 17th century in the libertine philosophy and in texts such as Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos and the Philosophy in the Bedroom by Marquis de Sade. Tapestry designs Jean-François de Troy produced the designs for two sets of tapestries which were woven by the Gobelins. Each set consists of seven tapestries. One recounts the Story of Esther