The Mystery of Aimee Duvivier

The name Aimée Duvivier is one that sometimes appears in books and discussions of women artists, yet, despite the interest that she piques amongst feminist art historians and art collectors, little information about her is available. Existing information tells us that she was born circa 1766. Thanks to artists' dictionaries by such compilers as Charles Gabet (1831) and Emmanuel Bénézit (1960), we know that this portrait painter actively exhibited from 1786 to 1824, that her father's name was Pierre-Charles, and that her subjects include a portrait of a young girl in a striped dress(1), Monsieur Eugène de Moranghe and the young Marquis Galaor de Tesson.(2) Feminist scholar Germaine Greer adds that Duvivier was the "granddaughter of Nicolas Duvivier, inspector of the royal Savonnerie" and that although she eventually stopped exhibiting at the Salons, her continued production of portraits proved to be a successful career.(3)

Her artistic training remains less clear. William Hauptman refers to her as a student of Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805),(4) a popular teacher amongst women art students due to his frequent representations of family life and sentimental subjects. In addition to Greuze, Duvivier is also said to have studied under Jacques-Louis David, who was known for taking in women art students of promising talent. The

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Portrait of a Young Pupil of David (1787), which has been attributed to Duvivier by such scholars as Greer(5) and Helen Weston,(6) depicts a young woman identified as Mlle Duchosal, a former student of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, producing a copy of the character of Camilla from David's Oath of the Horatii (1785). If Duvivier is, indeed, the author of this portrait, it proves that she at least spent some time in David's atelier. However, scholars Philippe Bordres and Alain Chevalier list Nanine Vallain (later known as Femme Piètre), a known Davidienne, as another possible author.

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A self-portrait in the private collection of Christian Salistean hints that Greuze was not her only influence. (Duvivier's signature on the back of the painting is proof of authorship.) The manner in which Greuze painted involved more expression in representing the figures. (For examples, see The Father's Curse and The Repentant Son.) As we can see with the Duvivier, however, the artist represents herself as a serious professional. Her emotionless face returns the gaze of the spectator. Furthermore, unlike the domesticated women of Grueze's paintings, often represented as mere objects of beauty (see The Dreamer), Duvivier's seriousness is combined with a reference to her profession, as she sits behind an easel and holds a palette and a paintbrush. As in Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun's National Gallery self-portrait, she represents herself as attractive, conveying to the spectator that beauty and talent can coexist in one woman. In terms of execution, the paint has been applied in the smooth, "sculptural" manner that often denotes Classicism,(7) the genre that replaced Baroque and Rococo and would dominate the French art scene until after the death of David.

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