Marie-Éléonore Godefroid (20 June 1778 – 1849) was a French painter, watercolorist, pastellist, and draughtswoman. Some of her major works include ''Portraits of the Children of Marshall Duke d'Enghien (1810), Portrait of Queen Hortense with her Children (1812), the Royal Princes, Portrait of the Princesses Louise and Marie d'Orléans,'' and ''Portrait of the Prince de Joinville.'' Godefroid is best known as a portrait painter.

Biography

Godefroid was born in Paris and was trained in the Davidian style of painting. She first studied art under her father, the royally-appointed art restorer Ferdinand-Joseph Godefroid. She would go on to become an instructor of arts and music at the Institute of Saint-Germain-en-Laye de Jeanne Campan, where young elite women of the Napoleonic period were trained. In 1795, she quit her post, however, to dedicate herself completely to painting. Around 1805, Godefroid joined the ''atelier'' of Baron

François Gérard François Pascal Simon Gérard (, 4 May 1770 – 11 January 1837), titled as Baron Gérard in 1809, was a French painter. He was born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador, and his mother was Italian. A ...

, with whom she would later collaborate. She joined his household by 1812 as an assistant in his office and studio, as well as a companion for him, his wife, and their nephews. Godefroid was also a student of

Jean-Baptiste Isabey Jean-Baptiste Isabey (; 11 April 1767 – 18 April 1855) was a French artist during both the First Empire and the Restoration. Early life and education Isabey was born in Nancy, France on 11 April 1767. At the age of 19, following some lessons ...

who worked in oil, aquarelle, and pastels. Between 1800 and 1847, Godefroid exhibited portraits in nineteen exhibitions at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

, winning medals in the Salon of 1812 and

Salon of 1824 The Salon of 1824 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris between 25 August 1824 and 15 January 1825. It took place during the Second Bourbon Restoration, Restoration Era that followed the downfall of Napoleon's First French Empire, Fre ...

. Notably, in 1810, she exhibited the celebrated ''Portraits of the Children of Marshall Duke d'Enghien'' (''Portrait en pied des enfans de M.gr le maréchal duc d'Elchingen''), a full-length portrait of the children of

Marshal Ney Michel Ney, 1st Prince de la Moskowa, 1st Duke of Elchingen (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The son of ...

. The work depicts Ney's eight-year-old son Joseph Napoléon, second-oldest son Michel Louis, and two-year-old son Eugène in fancy dress. Some of Godefroid's other exhibited works included portraits of the children of the Duke of Rovigo and Queen Hortense in 1812, portraits of the children of the Duke of Orleans in 1819 and 1822, and portraits of the Duke of Orleans and Monsieur and Madame de Guiche in 1827. She also portrayed other notable figures including Abd el-Kader, the painter

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, Jeanne Campan,

Germaine de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël ( ; ), was a prominent philosopher, woman of letters, and political theorist in both Parisian and Genevan intellectual circles. She was ...

, Talleyrand and Marshal Lauriston, among others. She also created several portraits that were not exhibited: the portraits of Mrs. Oudenarde, the Latour Maubourg Countess, violinist

Pierre Rode Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode (; 16 February 1774 – 25 November 1830) was a French violinist and composer. Life and career Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Pierre Rode traveled in 1787 to Paris and soon became a favourite pupil of the great Gi ...

, and

Camille Jordan Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan (; 5 January 1838 – 22 January 1922) was a French mathematician, known both for his foundational work in group theory and for his influential ''Cours d'analyse''. Biography Jordan was born in Lyon and educated at ...

, whose portrait was engraved by Mullier. Godefroid was one of the many women artists that

Empress Joséphine The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...

patronized. She also worked as a copyist and reproduced several works for the French government, including the portraits of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

and

Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...

Image gallery

File:Portrait of Madame Campan.jpg, '' Henriette Campan and her pupil Pholoé'', 1807 File:Marie-Eleonore Godefroid - Portrait des soeurs Louise Christine et Louise Emilie de Lafontaine.jpg, ''The Sisters Louise Christine and Louise Emilie de Lafontaine'', c. 1822 File:Portrait of Elena Vigano by Marie-Eleonore Godefroid.jpg, ''The Opera Vocalist Elena Viganò'', 1841 File:Marie-Eleonore Godefroid - Portrait of the children of Pierre-Jean David d'Angers.jpg, ''The Children of

David d'Angers Pierre-Jean David (12 March 1788 – 4 January 1856) was a French sculptor, medalist and active freemason.Initiated in ""Le Père de famille"" Lodge in Angers He adopted the name David d'Angers, following his entry into the studio of the painter ...

'', c. 1842 File:Marie-Éléonore Godefroid - Scheherazade and Shahryar (One Thousand and One Nights).jpg, ''

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major character and the storyteller in the frame story, frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade ...

and Shahryar (

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

)'', 1842 File:Novella-dandrea-marie-eleonore-godefroid.jpg, ''

Novella d'Andrea Novella d'Andrea (Bologna, 1312–1333 (or around 1346 or 1366) was an Italian legal scholar and professor in law at the University of Bologna. As the daughter of Giovanni d'Andrea, a professor in Canon law at the University of Bologna, she was ...

'', c. 1843

Sources

* Charles Gabet, Louis Charles Deschamps, Dictionnaire des artistes de l'école française au xixe siècle : peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure, dessin, lithographie et composition musicale, Paris, Vergne, 1831, p. 316-17.

References

External links

Marie-Éléonore Godefroid at the base joconde.

Tracing Marie-Éléonore Godefroid: Women’s Artistic Networks in Early Nineteenth-Century Paris
from ''Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture'' by Jennifer Germann {{DEFAULTSORT:Godefroid, Marie-Eleonore 1778 births 1849 deaths French portrait painters 19th-century French painters Painters from Paris 19th-century French women painters