Pauline Auzou

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Pauline Auzou

1775 - 1835

BiographyPauline Auzou (24 March 1775 – 15 May 1835) was a French painter and art instructor. 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. Auzou attended Jean-Baptiste Regnault's atelier in 1802 along with Sophie Guillemard, Eugénie Delaporte, Caroline Derigny and Henriette Lorimier. The Paris Salon opened up the exhibition to women's works in 1791 and she exhibited regularly from 1793 on. Exhibiting at the Salon at this age was a remarkable feat for a women artist at this time, given their systemic exclusion from the academies. She was awarded a first-class medal at the salon in 1806 for her painting of Pickard Elder. In 1810 Auzou received a commission to paint Napoleon and his wife, Marie Louise, giving some indication of the very high esteem in which the artist was held. Further critical successes at the Salon followed. She exhibited at the Paris Salon until 1817 showing portraits, genre scenes and mythological subjects in a Neoclassical and later Romantic style. After 1800, Auzou opened an art school for young women, which was existed for 20 years. She published a book Têtes d'études (English: Head studies) was published in Paris by Didot in 1800. She died in Paris on May 15, 1835.

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