Pauline Auzou

Pauline Auzou (24 March 1775 – 15 May 1835) was a French painter and art instructor, who exhibited at the Paris Salon.

Personal life Jeanne-Marie-Catherine Desmarquets (sometime written Desmarquest) was born in Paris on 24 March 1775. She assumed the surname La Chapelle when she was adopted by a cousin. In December 1793 she married the stationer Charles-Marie Auzou. Starting in 1794, they had at least two sons, two daughters and a child who did not survive infancy.

Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou bought one house of theirs in Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1820.

She died in Paris on 15 May 1835. Auzou attended Jean-Baptiste Regnault's atelier in 1802 along with Sophie Guillemard, , Caroline Derigny and Henriette Lorimier. She was influenced by another woman artist, Marguerite Gérard, and by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Women artists found greater success in creating paintings of women in homey settings, making music or reading. including paintings made of and for Napoleon. Like her sister artists Eugénie Servières, Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, and , she added a feminine touch to paintings in the Troubadour style for patrons such as Caroline, Duchesse de Berry and Empress Josephine.

The Paris Salon opened up the exhibition to a greater number of women's works at the Salon of 1791. She made a painting of legendary Daphnis and Phyllis, which was exhibited at the 1795 salon. She was awarded a first class medal at the Salon of 1806 for her painting of Pickard Elder, which in 1807 was represented in the painting Mr. Pickard and his family.

At the Salon of 1810 she displayed a painting of Napoleon and his bride entitled Archduchess Marie-Louise in Compiègne, depicting the newly married Napoleon who looks on fondly, and secondarily, as Marie-Louise is met by her ladys-in-waiting. Other paintings made of the couple by Auzou included a painting of Marie-Louise with her family, Her Majesty the Empress, before Her Marriage, at the Moment of Taking Leave of Her Family. Shown in 1806, Departure for the Duel depicts the family drama as a man looks at his sleeping wife and child before departing for a duel. Like other women artists of this time, Auzou depicted events as they impacted families. In this case, the wife was "condemned to seduction and the child to poverty," according to art critic Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Chaussard. The studio and school were maintained for 20 years. Her book Têtes d'études (English: Head studies) was published in Paris by Didot. Two of her works of Empress Marie-Louise are in the collections of The National Museum of Versailles, Palace of Versailles, including Her Majesty the Empress, before Her Marriage, at the Moment of Taking Leave of Her Family.

Works Arrival of Archduchess Marie-Louise in Compiègne (with new husband Napoleon)File:Pauline Auzou - Mr. Picard and his family.jpg Pauline Auzou, Louis-Benoît Picard and his family, shown at the 1808 Paris Salon. Within the painting is a portrait of Pickard Elder, for which she won a medal in the 1806 Paris Salon.