Toile de Jouy (translation: Fabric of Jouy) takes its name from the village, Jouy-en-Josas, near Versailles where the first printed textile factory in France was founded. Started by Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf (1738–1815), who was brought up in the textile industry, the factory began work in 1760. It attracted an affluent clientele, including Marie Antoinette, that appreciated the quality of Oberkampf’s fabrics. I first tuned into toile de Jouy while living in a toile-inspired room while an artist-in-residence at Giverny in 2012, Claude Monet’s famed home and garden located not far from the Musee de Toile de Jouy. The toiles that I am most drawn to incorporate both figure and landscape. Idealized vignettes that float on a neutral ground, never quite touching …