Sophie Guillemard (1780–after 1824), Rare Portrait Of A Woman Wearing A Pearl Necklace

Sophie Guillemard (1780–After 1824)
Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Pearl Necklace
Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1824

Dimensions: 56 x47.5 cm
Dimensions with frame: 71 x 62 cm

Original 19th-century frame; the painting has been restored by our studio. Previously re-stretched.

This is a previously unseen work by a relatively rare and little-documented artist. We know that she was born in Paris in 1780 and that she was a student of the famous painter Jean-Baptiste Regnault, whose studio included several talented female artists.
She exhibited at the Paris Salon between 1801 and 1819, demonstrating that she was recognized by the artistic institutions of her time. Until the discovery of this portrait, we had no record of her after 1819, which proves that she continued to paint.

We know of very few of the artist’s works; one of them, “Portrait of a Young Woman Distracted from Her Music Lesson,” is housed at the Cincinnati Museum of Art and was exhibited at the 1801 Salon.

In recent years, art historians have been rediscovering many female painters who exhibited at the Salon in the early 19th century. Sophie Guillemard is part of this generation of artists whose work is gradually being brought back into the spotlight through such discoveries.