Joséphine GALLEMENT (Versailles, 1785-Paris, 1836) - Lot 79

Joséphine GALLEMENT (Versailles, 1785-Paris, 1836) Oval portrait of a woman with a red shawl Original canvas. 73 x 60 cm. Signed and dated on the right: "Joséphine / De Gallemant / 1824". Inscribed on the reverse of the stretcher. (Misses and accidents). The Musée du Luxembourg's 2021 exhibition Women painters - 1780 - 1830, highlighted the important contribution of women to painting during the reign of Louis XVI and the Restoration, and the affirmation of their social role through art. Given the scarcity of their works on the market, we are pleased to present a fine portrait of a painter representative of the artistic professionalization of women in this period. Educated at Versailles, Joséphine de Georges was the daughter of Joseph Alexandre de Georges, esquire, huissier ordinaire de l'antichambre du roi until 1791, and gentleman servant to the Comte de Provence, the king's brother. His godparents were none other than Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, represented at the christening by the Duc de Fronsac and the Princesse de Chimay. A pupil of Ponce-Camus, Josephine exhibited portraits and history paintings at the Salon from 1810 onwards, linking her to the burgeoning "troubadour" movement: Anne Boleyn, before being led to the scaffold, blesses her daughter; Valentine of Milan, widow of Louis d'Orléans - she shows her husband's armor to the young Dunois, son of this prince, and makes him swear that he will avenge his death. Her client was the famous collector Gian Battista Sommariva. In 1816, she married her first cousin, the officer and former émigré Charles-Thérèse de Gallemant. Although she stopped participating in the Salon after her marriage, she continued to paint portraits, signing them with her married name. Ours belongs to this second part of her career.