When Enlightenment art hit 18th century France, it was, as most all art was, dominated by male artists. This intense focus on realism was seen through many naturalistic scenes, portraits, and still-lives by artists like Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) and Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). The Enlightenment was also a time of asking philosophical and cultural questions, including one about the role of women. Recovering from a long history of defining women as belonging in the private sphere, left in domestic positions, people began offering an alternative role: one of power, creativity, intelligence, and equality.
One sphere French women began to grow in power was through art, despite the continuation of restrictions from classes and the prestigious Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Among these artists were the six I will discuss: Marie Victore Lemoire, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Marie-Guillemine Benoise, Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, and Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Marie Denise Villers was another female artist of the time that I will discuss, but her most popular portrait was unfortunately misattributed to be Jacques-Louis David and she wasn’t credited until a later time. These female artists, though operating in a male-dominated field, forced themselves into history through their distinct portraits, displaying their uniquely feminine yet equally rich talents.
Marie Victore Lemoire, The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter, 1789, oil on canvas, 57.103.
This painting, not shown in the Salon until 1796, has a deceiving title. Though it is generalized as being the interior of an atelier of some woman painter, it is actually a self-portrait of Lemoire with possibly her sister or pupil pictured seated. In this distance from the title, Lemoire sets herself in the position and prestige of a woman painter. The combination of a still-life off to the left of the painting and the unfinished canvas depicting a young woman kneeling before the statue of Athena display Lemoire’s ability to accomplish several different genres of art. The canvas drawing, a history painting—which was seen as above women’s natural skill set—Lemoire’s way of pushing past the limits of expectation.
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, 1785, oil on canvas, 52.225.5.
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was one of only four women allowed in the Royal Academy in 1783. This neoclassical portrait proved Labille-Guiard’s talent in the highly masculinized vein of art. Labille-Guiard’s stance in the portrait—straight, fierce, and powerful—along with the fact that she is instructing the girls behind her on how to paint and her calm gaze at the viewer, gave her a special command that caught the eyes of everyone who saw it in the Salon in 1785.
Marie-Guillemine Benoise, Self-Portrait, 1786, oil on canvas, 95 1/6 x 78 ½ in., Staatliche Kunsthalle Collection.
Benoise was not allowed to enter her paintings in the Salon until 1791, where she submitted her famous historical pieces, The Farewell of Psyche to her Family and Innocence between Vice and Virtue. The fact that such astounding pieces were done by a woman brought mixed reviews, some in awe and others harshly critical. Benoise’s Self-Portrait, however, was presented at an outdoor exhibition in Paris called the Exposition de la Jeunesse in 1786. The eased state of her dress set her portrait apart from the stark preciseness of her fellow female artists. The easel on which she is painting is a copy of her mentor’s, Jacques-Louis David, painting Begging for Alms. Through this, Benoise is both reminding the viewer of her artistic lineage and making herself equal to him, showing her ability to mimic his popular painting.
Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, Self-Portrait with a Harp, 1791, oil on canvas, 67.55.1.
Daughter of famed artist Joseph Ducreux, Rose Adélaïde Ducreux was a wealthy woman born into an artistic family. Because of her status, she quickly became one of the more well-known female painters of the time. Self-Portrait was one of her first paintings displayed in the Salon in 1791. Ducreux’s dress springs from the canvas, displaying her skill in fashion design as well as artistic skill.
Marie Denise Villers, Marie Joséphine du Val d’Ognes, 1801, oil on canvas, 17.120.204.
This painting, as stated above, was originally attributed to Jacques-Louis David until the late 1900s. She is little known, but her paintings hold a lot of power. When it was previously attributed to David, Marie Joséphine was seen as one of David’s greatest portraits, the use of shape, value, and color, along with the line around the couple out the window. Little sister to Marie Victore Lemoine, Villers won a little prize for her painting which was exhibited in the Salon of 1801. Villers depiction of the teenage artist Marie Joséphine du Val d’Ognes is a challenge to traditional women’s roles, beautifully silhouetting the artist in her sparse studio contrasted to the traditional couple standing on a parapet outside the broken window behind du Val d’Ognes.
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait, 1790, oil on canvas, the Met.
Vigée Le Brun’s Rococo- and Neoclassical-styled paintings caused quite the ruckus during her time. One of her paintings, Self-Portrait with Her Daughter Julie, which showed her smiling and open-mouthed was dubbed narcissistic by her display of such emotion the artistic world had collectively condemned at the time. Despite her scandal, Vigée Le Brun painting more than 30 portraits of the French royal family in 1783—her connection to the royal family was so close, in fact, that when the French Revolution occurred, Vigée Le Brun fled to Italy, fearing for her life. Her Self-Portrait sets her apart from other artists: the silky black dress proving her professionalism and the incomplete portrait of the queen proving her prestige. The spark of red around her waist, however, stands out from the rest of the monotoned painting, leaving her unique style of bright colors.
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