WOMEN ARTISTS IN FRANCE.
In France women had taken a position more prominent than in the preceding century. Even the gallantry prevailing in society, and the corruption of court manners, were promoted by feminine influence. Unworthy women were raised to power, and the history of court favorites from the reign of the knightly Henry IV. to that of the great monarch Louis XIV. forms the most important part of the annals of the empire.
Women took eminent places in every department of literature; in the drama Catherine Bernard was the disciple of Racine, and Mademoiselle de Scudery had many imitators in her poetical romances; while Madame de la Fayette took the lead in a more modern style of fiction. Madame Dacier became celebrated as “the most learned and eloquent of women,” and her example helped to spread a love of knowledge and classical attainment among the French ladies. Even theological pursuits had a Jeanne de la Mothe-Guyon to represent mysticism in conflict with the orthodoxy of the court and the state.
In art the ascendency of woman was by no means so great. We may, however, name, as prominent in portrait and miniature painting, Antoinette and Madelaine Herault; the latter, in 1660, married Noel Coypel. She joined noble virtues to her extraordinary talents. Henriette Stresor and Catherine Perrot may also be mentioned. Catherine Duchemin, a flower-painter, married the famous sculptor Girardon.
Several women were noted as engravers on copper; among them Claudine Bonzonnet Stella has been called the first in France, and practiced the art with her two sisters. Jane Frances and Mary Ann Ozanne, the sisters of a French engraver, worked chiefly in engraving sea-side scenes.