Paul Villers

Jean-Paul Gues Viller, known as Paul Villers, was born on October 25, 1755, in Thionville. He was the son of wig maker Henry Gues Viller. He came to Paris around 1771 and lived at 1 Rue d'Angoulême, and from 1795 in an apartment in the Louvre. In January 1794, he married Françoise Rosalie Bouton in Deuil-la-Barre (a commune in the suburbs of Paris). Paul Villers died on August 26, 1824, in Le Pecq, a municipality near Saint Germain en Laye. His work as a miniaturist spanned from 1780 to 1793. Whether he is identical to the miniaturist “Villers,” who exhibited several miniatures at the Salon in 1793 and gave his address as “Rue et Porte Montmartre,” requires further clarification. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Henry-Noel Canival and Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard for their research on this artist.