CONSTANCE MAYER

LA GALLERYA OFFERS IMPORTANT AND RARE MINIATURE WITH ANTIQUE BOULLE FRAME BY THE PARISIAN PAINTER CONSTANCE MAYER H20CM X 17CM INFO LUCA 339 37 97 813 LA GALLERYA WHOLESALE AND RETAIL LARGE EXHIBITION WITH WAREHOUSE 1000 SQ M HIGH ANTIQUE FINE ART, PAINTING, SCULPTURES, MARBLES, AND ANCIENT ART OBJECTS VISIT ALL OUR PROPOSALS ACCOMPANIED BY A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY IN VIA AUTOSTRADA 34D MAGLIANO ALPI MOTORWAY TO/SV CARRU EXIT 500M ON THE LEFT APPRAISALS, EXPERTISE, INHERITANCE SUCCESSIONS AND DIVISIONS WE PRIVATELY PURCHASE ANTIQUES, ANTIQUE FURNISHINGS, ENTIRE ESTATES IMMEDIATE PAYMENT, MAX SERIOUSNESS NEW WEEKLY ARRIVALS WE RECEIVE BY PERSONALIZED APPOINTMENT OUTSIDE HOURS ALSO ON SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS Viewing province: CN (Cuneo) Italy Marie-Françoise-Constance Mayer La Martinière, known simply as Constance Mayer (Chauny, March 9, 1775 – Paris, May 26, 1821), was a French painter. She was one of the most important French female painters between the late 1700s and early 1800s. She was the daughter of a government official, who encouraged her interest in art and particularly in painting. Mayer painted genre scenes and portraits when she was twenty years old.[2] She was an artistic disciple of Joseph-Benoît Suvée and then of Jean-Baptiste Greuze,[3] beginning to exhibit her works from 1796.[1] Constance Mayer's style was clear and precise, as taught by the Neoclassicism in vogue at the time.[4] After the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, society became more tranquil and works such as painted and miniature portraits became popular. Mayer painted portraits of women and children, family scenes, self-portraits and miniatures of her father. She achieved some success, exhibiting at the Salon of 1801 Self-Portrait with Father, in which he indicates a bust of Raphael, inviting her to take this renowned painter as a model. Sensitive to the point of view of female artists, Mayer presented her works as a student of Greuze and Suvée, so that they could be more acceptable to the public. She worked in the studio of Jacques-Louis David in 1801 and adopted a simple and direct style, but always depicted sentimental scenes.[2] A portrait of Constance Mayer by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon around 1804. From 1802 she collaborated with Pierre Paul Prud'hon,[2] with whom she became very close, if not in a love affair, remaining close to him for life, opening an art studio next to his and taking care of his children when his wife went insane and was hospitalized in a sanatorium in 1803.[1] Both had exhibited works at the Salon and, unlike Prud'hon, she had received a better artistic education, while he was known for his talent in drawing and for particularly complex historical subject compositions.[5] After Prud'hon had divorced his wife, Emperor Napoleon gave him an apartment at the Sorbonne. In the same period (around 1803), Napoleon, who had purchased two paintings by Mayer, also gave her an apartment. There she played the role of Prud'hon's assistant, raised his five children and became known as his "favorite pupil".[6] The death of her father in 1810 gave her a substantial inheritance, with which she serenely lived the following years.[4] The relationship with Prud'hon and the Sorbonne then guaranteed her great artistic and economic freedom. However, with the Restoration the Sorbonne was requisitioned and subjected to control and censorship by royal officers, significantly impacting Constance Mayer's independence. Furthermore, Prud'hon's persistent refusal to marry her despite being now a widower led her to depression, leading her to suicide on May 26, 1821.[1] She was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. Prud'hon, devoured by guilt for her death, completed the last painting she had left unfinished, and when he himself died two years later he had himself buried next to her.[1] As often happened for female artists who were associated with more famous male artists, claims were made that she had not created all the works attributed to her and, due to her long relationship with Prud'hon, it is still not known exactly which ones she made and which ones he made. The confusion is mainly due to the fact that the two artists collaborated on various works: he made the sketches of the composition and she made the paintings. Many were exhibited in her name, but when her works entered public collections they were attributed to Prud'hon. For example, The Sleep of Venus and Cupid, currently attributed to Mayer, was initially attributed to Prud'hon by the staff of the Wallace Collection.[5]