Marie-Françoise-Constance Mayer-Lamartiniére
Born in 1775 in Paris, the daughter of a successful government official, she first studied under J.-B. Suvée (who left Paris in 1801) and Greuze, whose work she imitated closely. She exhibited principally portraits at the Salon 1796-1801.
In 1802 she became the pupil of Prud'hon, to whom she dedicated the rest of her life, both as an artist and companion. She cared for his children (whose mother had become insane), while her work became inextricably involved with that of Prud'hon who would prepare compositions for her to paint (cf. P348 and Prud'hon P313) and exhibit at the Salon under her own name. In 1810 (presumably on the death of her father from whom she inherited some 8o,ooo fr.) she acquired a studio adjoining Prud'hon's in the Sorbonne.
In 1821 the government requisitioned the Sorbonne and this threat to the ménage, combined with her highly-strung temperament, led her to take her own life in her studio on 26 May 1821. Prud'hon completed her last picture, Une famille dans la désolation, and showed it in the 1822 Salon under his name. When Prud'hon died in 1823 he was buried with her at Père-Lachaise.
