Nicolas Pineau was the son of a court sculptor of the French king. Starting initially in his father’s workshop, he then studied architecture under Jules Hardouin Mansart and Germain Boffrand. He also completed a course of studies at the Académie de Saint-Luc, whose director he became in 1749, and worked in the atelier of the goldsmith Thomas Germain.

In 1716, Pineau accompanied the architect Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste le Blond to Russia to work for Peter the Great. He was involved in executing the interior of Peterhof Palace as well as decorating the St. Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg. He also designed the mourning decoration to mark the funeral of Peter the Great in 1725. He then returned to Paris, where he mainly created sculptural works of a decorative nature.

Pineau’s importance lay in his ornament drawings; very little remains of the decorations actually executed. He is regarded as the creator of the early Louis XV style and the originator of asymmetric ornamentation, which became a characteristic feature of rococo.