Marie CHARPENTIER (1767-1849) ✿

Constance Marie Charpentier (1767-1849) was a French painter, pupil of François Gérard and Jacques-Louis David, and in 1788 she received a Prix d'Encouragement. Constance Charpentier is considered one of the best portrait painters of the time, exhibited very regularly at the Salon from 1795 to 1819, distinguishing herself with a gold medal in 1814.

She specialized in sentimental genre scenes and portraits of women and children. Although she was considered by contemporary critics to be one of the finest portrait painters of the age, few works by her have been traced.

Constance Marie Charpentier - Melancholy - 1801 - Museo della Piccardia

Among her portraits shown in the Salon of 1801 may have been that of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), previously attributed to David, showing a young girl drawing, posed against the sunlight. The painting reflects the influence of Gérard and is close in style to a portrait of Mme Pagniere-Drolling (St Louis, Art Museum). 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art kept the attribution of this painting to Constance Charpentier until 2007 and it was then attributed to Marie-Denise Villers, a little known French painter, of whom it could be a self-portrait ”.

Constance Marie Charpentier - Melancholy - 1801 - Museo della Piccardia