By: Carolyn Leigh
When you first look at Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes, you might notice the scene of a woman being bathed in soft natural light, the slightly turned face, and the eyes that meet your gaze just enough to catch your attention. She’s alone, seated in front of a window with a sketchpad in her lap. It's calm, delicate, intimate. But something else is going on here. Who is she drawing? What is she thinking? And why has this painting, once misattributed to Jacques-Louis David, sparked so much curiosity over the years?
Painted in 1801, this portrait of a young woman opens a window into early 19th-century French life. During most of the period, females weren't known for being artists and widely were frowned upon. Most of the views we've discussed in class portraying women as people unable to do art are widely seen during this time.
At first glance, you see a young woman sketching near a window, and dressed in the soft whites typical of the era’s neoclassical revival. But the questions start to pile up the longer you look. Is she drawing a portrait of a lover practicing her art? Or simply pretending for the sake of the painting? In the background, there seems to be a couple portrayed through the broken window. It has the possibility of trying to portray a distant view of romance, or perhaps a contrast to her solitude. Whether love is present or not, there’s certainly a feeling of longing. And isn’t that its own kind of love?
As Susan Hiner explores, the way this woman is dressed, the flowing empire waist, the cropped curls, and the translucent white fabric were part of a broader cultural conversation about femininity, modesty, and independence. Fashion wasn’t just decoration, but was its own language. The young woman’s body faces us, but her gaze slips away, focusing instead on the work at hand. She’s engaged, intent, and in her own world. That’s not passive beauty, but present beauty.
And that drawing the woman seems to be painting. It’s likely fictional. I looked everywhere I could, and there to my knowledge, there was no known painting. But the act of drawing itself was a statement. Women in the arts were often restricted to certain forms, decorative crafts, and amateur pursuits. But Villers presents her subject as a practicing artist, mid-process. It's as if the painting itself says that she is the artist, and also the art.
So yes, love is here, but maybe not the kind you'd expect. It's not just romantic. It’s love of art. Love of solitude. Love of the self in a world that doesn’t always allow for it. That’s what makes this painting so modern, and why it continues to speak to us, two centuries later.
Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868)
1/2 × 50 5/8 in. (161.3 × 128.6 cm)
17.120.204
634
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait with Daughter Julie
1789
Oil on canvas
51 1/8 × 38 1/4 in.
1979.396
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This portrait gives us a very close look at the bond between a mother and her child. In this painting, a mother is painted with her daughter, not just as a loving parent, but also as an artist. What connects this to Villers’ Young Woman Drawing is the way both works put women in positions of action. These aren’t just portraits of women sitting still but are women who are doing, creating, and asserting their place in the world. It’s a powerful message about women owning their personal and professional roles, which wasn’t so common in art from this period.
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Head of a Young Woman
1785
Oil on canvas
83 1/2 × 59 1/2 in. (212.1 × 151.1 cm)
53.225.5
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In this grand portrait, it presents the main woman with a brush in her hand and women behind her looking at the piece she's painting. The painting seems very familiar to Marie Joséphine's painting as a work of connecting to the bigger piece. By placing herself at the center of the artistic setting, Labille-Guiard made a bold statement about women’s place in art. Like Villers’ work, it speaks to the tension women faced between being seen and being respected, and how creative spaces became acts of resistance and self-expression.
Camille Corot, A Woman Reading
1869–70
Oil on canvas
21 3/8 × 14 3/4 in. (54.3 × 37.5 cm)
28.89
Metropolitan Museum of Art
In this painting, there is a woman that seems to be sitting outdoors, seemingly entrapped in what she is reading. The serene landscape and the subject's absorbed demeanor create a tranquil scene that emphasizes personal reflection and intellectual engagement. Similar to Villers' Young Woman Drawing, this work highlights a moment of a woman quietly working by herself, showing the woman's inner desire for a piece, and portraying it through the outward work of the piece.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Two Studies of a Woman Reading
1635–40
Pen and brown iron-gall ink
6 13/16 × 5 7/8 in. (17.3 × 15 cm)
29.100.938
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rembrandt's Two Studies of a Woman Reading showcases his mastery of capturing human emotion and perspective. The drawing features two women absorbed in reading, each portrayed with different variations in posture and lighting on each of them. The woman on the left is illuminated by daylight, while on the right, the woman seems to be leaning away, with her face in the dark, and is looking dedicatedly toward her book. This exploration of light and shadow not only demonstrates artistic skill but also emphasizes the desire to learn and do. Similar to Villers' work, this drawing highlights a woman's engagement in an intellectual activity, offering a glimpse into her inner world.
Charles-François Marchal, Penelope
ca. 1868
Oil on canvas
43 1/2 × 19 1/2 in. (110.5 × 49.5 cm)
87.15.109
Metropolitan Museum of Art
In this painting, a beautiful woman in a blue dress seems to be happily engaged in patient needlework. The painting emphasizes the virtue found in simple feminine tasks and the emotional depth of the subject. Penelope's painting somehow seems to demean women in their tasks, and almost underscores the significance of women's work and the nature of their endeavors. This portrayal aligns with Villers' depiction of a woman immersed in drawing, highlighting the importance of women's intellectual and creative pursuits. How a woman can easily do dedicated and time-consuming tasks.
References:
Villers, Marie Denise. Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868). 1801, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437903
Vigée Le Brun, Élisabeth Louise. Self-Portrait with Daughter Julie. 1786, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436098
Greuze, Jean-Baptiste. Head of a Young Woman. Possibly 1780s, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot, 1967. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437315
Corot, Camille. A Woman Reading. 1869–70, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Louise Senff Cameron, in memory of her uncle Charles H. Senff, 1928. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435991
Rembrandt van Rijn. Two Studies of a Woman Reading. 1635–40, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1929. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/347899
Marchal, Charles-François. Penelope. ca. 1868, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436970
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