Anne-marie Suchet-granier (1769-1844) Portrait Of The Artist's Sister

Anne-Marie SUCHET GRANIER
(Lyon 1769 - Lyon 1844)
Portrait of the artist's sister, Marie-Camille Granier (1773-1820)
Black pencil drawing with oval view
H. 29 cm; L. 22 cm
Located and dated lower left. Signed lower right - 1806

Anne-Marie Granier, comes from a typical Lyon family. By her two parents she descends from lines of silk merchants, raised to the rank of squire, and even secretary to the King for her father. Widowed less than ten years after her marriage to Jean-Christophe Suchet, also a silk merchant, she had no children.

The artistic question remains suspended. Most certainly a simple amateur with a sharp pencil stroke, Anne-Marie Suchet Granier (she signs this name) had to learn drawing in Lyon like many young ladies of her time.

Here, it is a portrait of her younger sister that she realizes, Marie-Camille, at the age of 32 years. This portrait, dated August 26, 1806, is made at the home of another sister, Claudine Victoire, who married Etienne de Champvieux 4 years earlier. The drawing is simply made at the Château de Champvieux in Saint Germain au Mont d'Or, today a square building typically from the early 19th century. Was it this house that housed the Granier sisters or a more rustic earlier building? Located a stone's throw from the Saône, this small castle has now been transformed into apartments and has certainly lost all the charm of the family property of the time.