It seems that everything had conspired to erase the name Marie-Denise Villers (1774-1821), so that she would fall into oblivion: obviously she was a woman painter, just a few of her works have been recovered. She had two sisters who were painters too. All those circumstances have contributed to the scholars’ confusion. Furthermore, for a while, her best-known work was awarded to the painter Jacques-Louis David.
‘Young woman painting’ is an iconic picture. Some refer to it as a self-portrait while other people understand it is really a picture of Charlotte du Val. I know nothing about the path of that portrait, a road leading to the New York Metropolitan Museum. I guess a philanthropist experienced both the charm and the mystery of that young girl who is watching us, attentive, careful, she has made good use of one of her pencils to do up her hair. Note the mysterious couple in love, visible through the window, deliberately painted…