Detail of The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter by Lemoine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2010

Title: The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter

Artist: Marie Victoire Lemoine (French, Paris 1754–1820 Paris)

Date: 1789

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 45 7/8 x 35 in. (116.5 x 88.9 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Thorneycroft Ryle, 1957

Accession Number: 57.103


Although painted in 1789, Lemoine could not show this painting at the Salon until 1796, when post-Revolutionary reforms greatly expanded women artists’ access to the privileges of the Académie Royale. The original title suggests an exemplary depiction of women in this profession, but those close to the artist recognized a self-portrait with her sister, Marie-Elisabeth, who was also a painter. Lemoine’s facility in still life and portraiture, categories in which women most often trained, are readily visible, while a history painting—the highest category in the academic system and usually considered in this period as ill-suited to women—is underway on the easel.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436875