Nicolas Antoine Taunay (1755–1830): Bridging Neoclassicism and Brazilian Landscape Nicolas Antoine Taunay, born Feb. 10, 1755, in Paris, France—died March 20, 1830, Paris), was a French painter and member of the French artistic mission to Brazil in 1816. The son of a painter for the porcelain factory at Sèvres, France, Taunay began studying painting at age 13. His teachers included Francesco Casanova, whose landscape and history paintings inspired Taunay’s own subject matter. Taunay worked in a Neoclassical style throughout his career, producing landscapes and genre scenes as well as biblica…