![Marie Victoire Lemoine - Atelier of a Painter [1796]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3914/15108501000_9e7d6743de_o.jpg)
The most important exhibitions in eighteenth-century Paris were the Salons, in general held every other year, for a few weeks, and open only to artists associated with the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. After the French Revolution the Académie was abolished, and meanwhile the Salon of 1791 was open to all contenders, men and women alike. This unsigned and undated canvas is attributed to Marie Victoire Lemoine (French, Paris, 1754 - Paris, 1820), one of many women artists who suddenly emerged into public view. It is identified quite certainly with a painting she exhibited there in 1796, and accordingly the title is drawn from the hand list for the exhibition. The easel depicted in the painting is of simple, practical construction but otherwise the furnishings and fittings are better suited to a drawing room. It is possible but by no means certain that the painter in the modern Neoclassical dress and gauze turban is a self-portrait of Mademoiselle Lemoine.
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 116.5 x 88.9 cm]