[1] His first training was under his father, the minor Rouen painter Jean-Dominique Deshays, he then spent a little time under Jean-Baptiste Descamps at his Ecole Gratuite de Dessin.He spent time in Hyacinthe Collin de Vermont's Paris studio from around 1740 to 1749 and Jean Restout II's from late 1749 to 1751.Deshays served the compulsory three years training at the Ecole des Eleves Protégés (where he learnt from Carle van Loo, its director, and attracted some religious commissions, including two vast canvases, a Visitation and an Annunciation, for the monastery of the Visitation at Rouen), before going to Rome.He then spent 4 years under Charles-Joseph Natoire at the French Academy in Rome, making several copies of works by Raphael, Domenichino, Guercino and the Carracci.On Deshays' return to Paris in 1758, he married Boucher's elder daughter, and a year later became a full academician, though he only exhibited at 4 official Salons.
Hector
Exposed on the Banks of the
Xanthus River
, 1759, by Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays (Musée Fabre, Montpellier)
