Marie-Josèphe Caron, called in Spanish Doña María Josefa Carrón (baptized 13 January 1725; died 21 December 1784) was a French artist active in Spain.

Biography

Born in Paris, Caron was one of the five sisters of

Pierre Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright and diplomat during the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for his three #Figaro plays, Figaro plays, at various times in his life he was also a watc ...

, born to watchmaker André-Charles Caron; their cousin was the artist Suzanne Caron. At her baptism at the her godmother was listed as Jeanne-Josèphe de La Borde. On 27 November 1748, at Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, she married one Louis Guillebert, possibly Guilbert (1717–1772) a ''maître maçon'' who was soon appointed architect to the king of Spain, whereupon the couple settled in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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at the ''Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800''. Accompanying them was her younger sister, Marie-Louise, called Lisette, whose involvement with a Spanish official, José Clavijo y Fajardo, led the playwright to make a 1764 trip to rescue her honor, a story which later inspired the play '' Clavigo'' by

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. In Madrid, Marie-Josèphe established a fashion shop; her husband, meanwhile, lost his reason and died. In 1770 she sent a letter of application to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

; later that same year she repeated her request. Early in 1771 she received a favorable response, pending submission of an artwork as part of the application. In May 1771 she was at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, from where she wrote to thank the Académie; soon thereafter she apologized for the delay in sending the required artwork, attributing it to the death of her husband and to a serious illness on her part. She was recovered enough by that December to submit her work, a portrait of a Marseillais lieutenant-colonel, which she sent from Madrid. In 1772 she returned to Paris where, without funds, she relied upon her brother's financial support until her death. Spanish sources claim she died in Madrid in 1823, but this is incorrect. A 1761 portrait in pastel of the architect

Diego de Villanueva Diego is a Spanish language, Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese language, Portuguese equivalent is Diogo (name), Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. The name also h ...

is in the collection of the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caron, Marie-Josephe 1725 births 1784 deaths French women painters French expatriates in Spain 18th-century French painters 18th-century French women artists French pastel artists Painters from Paris 18th-century French businesspeople Women pastel artists 18th-century French women painters