Early Life, Family and Training Jean Valade entered the world in Poitiers, France, where he was baptized on 27 November 1710. He was born into a lineage of craft, the son of Marie Bellot and Léonard, a man who also practiced the art of painting. This familial connection provided the foundation for his early development. Under his father's guidance, the young artist began his technical training, absorbing the fundamentals of the trade…