Sit Still Look Pretty

A revolutionary spirit characterizes the end of the 18th century. After the American Revolution, France was on the cusp of its own revolution. Female artists in France were not excluded from the revolutionary spirit of the end of the century. Women comprised roughly 11 percent of all entries at the Salon, which only grew over the French Revolution. Seizing the opportunity to exhibit, women in Paris presented portraits and narratives to change and shape their social identity, establishing themselves as artists. Making a name and place for themselves for a public audience and earning a living, these women painted portraits of themselves or other females painting. This exhibition, Sit Still Look Pretty, examines portraits of women sitting from the mid-1700s to early 1800s.  In some of these portraits, women are indeed “sitting still,” while other seated women are not still but rather in action, painting, or sketching. The juxtaposition between these two kinds of seated women emphasizes the changing social identity of women in France. Additionally, note the difference in date and artists of these painted girls. Pay attention to the difference between the way French male artists portray women versus the way French women portray themselves. Female artists were now “hanging” themselves on the wall instead of being hung on the wall by male artists.

Marie Denise Villers, Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868), 1801, Oil on Canvas,  Accession Number 17.120.204 

Marie Denise Villers, Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868), was exhibited at the 1801 Salon in Paris. Viller grew up in a family of female artists and studied under Anne Louis Girodet de Roussy-Triosen at the Academy. Set in a studio at the Louvre, Villers paints a window into a female art world, showing a girl looking up from her stretch and making eye contact with the viewer. This highly feminine composition is a part of the changing social identity of female artists in France. Viller is actively demonstrating how women themselves are artists. While exhibited under Viller’s name, it was quickly misattributed to Jacques Louis David for its neoclassical look. However, it has been reattributed to Marie Denise Villers in recent years, partially due to contextualizing this piece in this French female artist movement.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785, Oil on canvas, Accession Number 53.225.5 

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was a prominent voice advocating for female artists to receive the same opportunities as male artists.  In 1783, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was admitted into the French Royal Academy, and at the 1785 Salon, this painting received some high praise. This self-portrait depicts Adélaïde Labille-Guiard in an elegant dress accompanied by her two pupils. The compositional complexity and subject matter help redefine what the “female touch” means.

François Hubert Drouais, Marie Rinteau, called Mademoiselle de Verrières, 1761, Oil on canvas, Accession Number 49.7.47

This portrait exemplifies aristocratic women, their lives, and their public image. High-class women were objects of beauty, luxury, and leisure. François Hubert Drouais, as a Rococo artist, emphasized the pretty and grandeur. The sitter, Marie Rinteaul, lived a life of luxury unmarried with her sister in the 1750s. Seen holding sheet music, she had a short-lived career in music and theater and spent most of her life as a cultured courtesan in Paris.  Drouais’s sketches of Marie Rinteau and her sister reveal that she had a less lavished hairstyle. Drouais updating Marie's hair for his portrait is an example of the importance of a luxurious image for aristocratic women.

Jean-Marc Nattier, Portrait of a Woman, 1753, Oil on Canvas, Accession Number 1982.60.42. 

Jean-Marc Nattier's Portrait of a Woman is of an unknown sitter, though there is speculation that this woman is his wife. The majority of Natter’s portraits of aristocratic women show uniformity over individuality. Natter’s women all have pale skin and bright blush and are against soft landscapes. Portrait of a Woman shows a lack of individuality and demonstrates the typical lifestyle of high-class women in France who live private lives of luxury, leisure, and beauty. 

Marie Victoire Lemoine, The Interior of a Woman Painter's Studio, 1789, Oil on Canvas, Accession Number 57.103

Painted in 1789, it was not displayed in the Paris Salon until 1796, when revolutionary reform allowed more female artists to exhibit. This self-portrait of Marie Victoire Lemoine and her sister is a window into the female art space. The work itself displays the changing view of female artists. In the painting, Lemoine has female-typical art of portraits and still life; however, on the easel is a historical scene, understood as the highest form of painting and ill-suited for women. Lemoine actively and bluntly challenges the view of female artists. 

Jacques-Louis David, Madame de Pastoret and Her Son, 1791-92, Oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago. Reference number 1967.228

Jacques-Louis David is considered the leading neoclassical painter of the time. The portrait portrays a domestic, youthful mother with dignity and grace. Her soft nature and gentle activity reinforce the private life and domestic view of women of the time. Madame de Pastoret and Her Son is difficult to date because of the revolution in France. The portrait’s unfinished nature is derived from the political difference between the sitter and David. However anti-aristocracy David was, this portrait of Madame de Pastoret and Her Son displays a private and simple view of women. While not luxurious like Racoco art, the softness and activity of the women emphasize the passivity and domesticity of women. 

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Self-portrait, 1790, Oil on canvas, Private collection.

Marie-Guillemine Benoist studied under both Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun and Jacques-Louis David at the Royal Academy. She was pivotal in the changing view of women as artists in France at the turn of the century. She was the first female to present a history painting at the Salon in 1791. While she is better known for historical paintings, Benoist's Self-Portrait is another example of her asserting female artists as respectable artists who can do more than still life. Her self-portrait is also an example of her excelling in the neoclassical style popular among male artists.

References

Paris A. Spies-Gans, A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in London and Paris, 1760-1830 (London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2022), 171–229. 

Katharine Baetjer, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, French Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019).