Constance Marie Charpentier was a French Academic painter, who specialized in genre work and portraits. Many women sat for her; and supported her work. She had a love of the male academic nude and had to fight to draw it classes. Taking class work in Paris, but also getting discriminated against for her first art school applications. She was a female artist that had to get a note from her male guardian to take the coursework she finally did get. She also taught mixed classes of men and women students on the craft of doing the male figurative (clothed and academic).
In year 1788, she proudly received a ‘Prix d’Encouragement’ and participated in several Paris salons that year. Showing her female portrait work and her male academic drawings too. From the years 1795 to 1819 she exhibited approximately thirty paintings at various Salons, winning a prestigious gold medal in 1814 at the Paris Salon and a silver medal in 1821 at the Salon at Douai.
Some of her work has wrongly been attributed to her teacher, Jacques Louis David. Which is sad, but doesn’t surprise us.
