Two Women Bathing

Vien painted "Two Women Bathing" in 1763, a work that demonstrates his transitional role between the sensual Rococo and the emerging Neoclassical style. Vien, who would become David's teacher and the director of the French Academy in Rome, advocated a return to classical simplicity while retaining the charm of earlier French painting. The bathing subject was a standard pretext for the female nude in French art.

Vien renders the two bathers with a clarity and restraint that distinguish his handling from the more overtly sensual approach of Boucher. The cleaner drawing and more sculptural forms point toward the Neoclassical revolution his pupil David would complete.