The works of Mlle. Chauchet have been much praised. The Petit Moniteur, June, 1899, says: "Mlle. Chauchet, a very young girl, in her picture of a 'Breton Interior' shows a vigor and decision very rare in a woman." Of the "Marée," the Dépêche de Brest says: "On a sombre background, in artistic disorder, thrown pell-mell on the ground, are baskets and a shining copper kettle, with a mass of fish of all sorts, of varied forms, and changing colors. All well painted. Such is the picture by Mlle. Chauchet."
In the Courrier de l'Est we read: "Mlle. Chauchet, taking her grandmother for her model, has painted one of the best portraits of the Salon. The hands, deformed by disease and age, are especially effective; the delicate tone of the hair in contrast with the lace of the cap makes an attractive variation in white."
In the Union Républicaine de la Marne, H. Bernard writes: "'Le retour des champs' is a picture of the plain of Berry at evening. We see the back of a peasant, nude above the blue linen pantaloons, with the feet in wooden sabots. He is holding his tired, heavy cow by the tether. The setting sun lights up his powerful bronzed back, his prominent shoulders, and the hindquarters of the cow. It is all unusually strong; the drawing is firm and very bold in the foreshortening of the animal. The effect of the whole is a little sad; the sobriety of the execution emphasizes this effect, and, above all, there is in it no suggestion of the feminine. I have already noticed this quality of almost brutal sincerity, of picturesque realism, in the works of Mlle. Chauchet who successfully follows her methods."
Chaussée, Mlle. Cécile de.
[No reply to circular.]
Chéron, Elizabeth Sophie. Born in Paris in 1648. Her father was an artist, and under his instruction Elizabeth attained such perfection in miniature and enamel painting that her works were praised by the most distinguished artists. In 1674 Charles le Brun proposed her name and she was elected to the Academy.
Her exquisite taste in the arrangement of her subjects, the grace of her draperies, and, above all, the refinement and spirituality of her pictures, were the characteristics on which her fame was based.
Her life outside her art was interesting. Her father was a rigid Calvinist, and endeavored to influence his daughter to adopt his religious belief; but her mother, who was a fervent Roman Catholic, persuaded Elizabeth to pass a year in a convent, during which time she ardently embraced the faith of her mother. She was an affectionate daughter to both her parents and devoted her earnings to her brother Louis, who made his studies in Italy.
In her youth Elizabeth Chéron seemed insensible to the attractions of the brilliant men in her social circle, and was indifferent to the offers of marriage which she received; but when sixty years old, to the surprise of her friends, she married Monsieur Le Hay, a gentleman of her own age. One of her biographers, leaving nothing to the imagination, assures us that "substantial esteem and respect were the foundations of their matrimonial happiness, rather than any pretence of romantic sentiment."
Mlle. Chéron's narrative verse was much admired and her spiritual poetry was thought to resemble that of J. B. Rousseau. In 1699 she was elected to the Accademia dei Ricovrati of Padua, where she was known as Erato. The honors bestowed on her did not lessen the modesty of her bearing. She was simple in dress, courteous in her intercourse with her inferiors, and to the needy a helpful friend.