LEMOINE, Marie-Victoire - b. 1754 Paris, d. 1820 Paris - WGA

LEMOINE, Marie-Victoire

(b. 1754 Paris, d. 1820 Paris)

French painter, born in Paris. Like her two sisters Marie-Denise Villers and Marie-Élisabeth Gabiou, she became a painter. She was part of a generation of women who were able to enjoy considerable success as professional artists. Before this time, women were rarely able to become artists, with a few exceptions who were all sisters or daughters of artists. She was one of the first women artists to come into prominence in Paris once the official Salon was opened to women in 1791.

Lemoine studied with François-Guillaume Ménageot and is thought to have been a student of her heroine Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. She was admitted to the Académie Royale in 1783, aged 29. She produced miniatures as well as oils and genre paintings.

Portrait of a Young Lady
Portrait of a Young Lady by

Portrait of a Young Lady

The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter
The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter by

The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter

This picture is believed to be a painting of �lisabeth Vig�e-Lebrun by Lemoine, who pays homage to her by showing herself as the pupil. Vig�e-Lebrun is shown palette and mahlstick in hand, pausing from work on an Antique-inspired subject, a votary of Athena, goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts, while her pupil makes a copy of it. It can be interpreted as eulogising Vig�e-Lebrun as the original ground-breaker, the high priestess of female artists.

The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1796 in Paris.

Two Sisters
Two Sisters by

Two Sisters

Although she was also a miniaturist and painter of genre scenes, Lemoine is perhaps best known now for her portraits, which reveal the influence of other women artists such as Ad�laide Labille-Guiard and �lisabeth Vig�e-Lebrun.

Woman and Cupid
Woman and Cupid by

Woman and Cupid

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