An exact contemporary of François Boucher (1703-1770), Natoire learnt the rudiments of his art with his sculptor father in Nîmes before coming to Paris to study with Louis Galloche (1670-1761), a man of many talents whose interest in landscape awakened a similar taste in the young man. 

However, it was François Lemoyne (1688-1737) – the most sought-after painter in Paris at the time - who was to exert a decisive influence on Natoire’s future style and subject-matter.  In 1721, he won the prix de Rome, and left Paris for the Académie de France  in 1723, remaining in the Eternal City for seven years.