Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749–1803)

• Was a also known as Adélaïde Labille-Guiard des Vertus.
• She was a French miniaturist and portrait painter.
• She was an advocate for women to receive the same opportunities as men to become great painters.
• Labille-Guiard was one of the first women to become a member of the Royal Academy and was the first female artist to receive permission to set up a studio for her students at the Louvre.

• During her adolescence, Labille-Guiard studied miniature painting with oil painter François-Élie Vincent and her early work was exhibited at the Académie de Saint-Luc.

• She apprenticed with the pastel master Quentin de la Tour until 1774. 

• On May 31, 1783, Labille-Guiard was accepted as a member of the French Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture.

• Through pure artistic ability and talent, Labille-Guiard became a painter for the Royal family.

• Her royal patrons included the aunt of Louis XVI of France, Princess Marie Adélaïde and her sister Victoria Louise, and the King's sister Elizabeth and earned her a government pension of 1,000 livres.

• She was later commissioned in 1788 by the King's brother, the Count of Provence (later Louis XVIII of France).

• She was instructed to paint him at the centre of a large historical work, Réception d'un chevalier de Saint-Lazare par Monsieur, Grand maître de l'ordre.

• In 1795 she obtained artist's lodging at the Louvre and a new pension of 2,000 livres.

• Next