Marie-Gabrielle Capet was a French Neoclassical painter. She excelled as a portrait painter, and her works include oil paintings, watercolours and miniatures.
She counted among other customers several members of the royal family, and other members of Paris society. At that time the Royal Academy of painting and sculpture had limited the number of female painters to only four. It was a unique situation, that Capet was able to make a living as painter.
Capet's name appeared as one of the 21 women who displayed works in the Salon of 1791, immediately after the French Revolution. In this self-portrait, Capet is shown holding drawing chalk clasped in a holder as she faces the easel. The painting is a splendid rendition of her youthful face, showing her in the fresh beauty of her 22nd year. The blue satin dress, boldly open at the chest, was fashionable in her day and blue ribbons of the same material reveal the delicate lightness of rococo.
Self-Portrait
oil on canvas • 59.5 x 77.5 cm
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Marie-Gabrielle Capet