Pauline Auzou
| Pauline Auzou | |
|---|---|
Reputedly a self-portrait
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| Born |
Jeanne-Marie-Catherine Desmarquets March 24, 1775 Paris, France |
| Died | May 15, 1835 (aged 60) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Baptiste Regnault's atelier |
| Known for | Painter |
| Movement | Realism, Troubadour art |
| Spouse(s) | Charles-Marie Auzou |
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Pauline Auzou (March 24, 1775 – May 15, 1835) was a French painter and art instructor, who exhibited at the Paris Salon and was commissioned to make paintings of Napoleon and his wife Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma.
Jeanne-Marie-Catherine Desmarquets (sometime written Desmarquest) was born in Paris on 24 March 1775. She assumed the surname La Chapelle when she was adopted by a cousin. In December 1793 she married the stationer Charles-Marie Auzou. Starting in 1794, they had at least two sons, two daughters and a child who did not survive infancy.
Jacques Augustin Catherine Pajou bought one house of theirs in Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1820.
She died in Paris in 1835 on May 15.
In the early late 18th century women were generally prevented from attaining an education in art academies in France, particularly if they did not have money and connections. Auzou attended Jean-Baptiste Regnault's atelier in 1802 along with Sophie Guillemard, Eugenie Delaporte, Caroline Derigny and Henriette Lorimier. She was influenced by another woman artist, Marguerite Gérard, and by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
Early in her studies and career, Auzou made paintings of legendary Greek figures. Very unusual for the time, when it was considered nearly underheard of for women to draw or paint nude people, Auzou made studies of nude women and men. Deemed inappropriate, women artists found greater success in creating paintings of women in homey settings, making music or reading.
She was a successful artist, first a Neoclassist, who made historic, genre and portrait paintings, including depictions of Napoleon. She received 2,000 to 4,000 francs in stipend payments, for the creation of essentially government mandated paintings of contemporary events, including paintings made of and for Napoleon.Troubadour art, was very much a style made by male artists, but there were several artists like Eugénie Servières, Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, and Sophie Lemire who added a feminine touch to makes of Caroline, Duchesse de Berry and Empress Josephine and others.
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