Author: SILHOUETTE
Title: Mlle Constance Mayer. Age 52.
Description: 1821 or later. Silhouette, heightened with gold, inscribed Mlle Constance Mayer Age 52 [indecipherable]. Constance Mayer [1775 - 1821] was a French artist during the Napoleonic period, at one time working with Jacques-Louis David when one of her paintings was accepted by the Salon. In 1802, she entered the studio of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758–1823), beginning a professional and personal relationship that would shape the remainder of her career. In 1803, Prud'hon was commissioned to paint a portrait of Empress Josephine (1763–1814) and his wife, the mother of his five children, believed that he was in love with the Empress. He had her committed to a mental asylum for the remainder of her life and Mayer took responsibility for the children. Both Prud'hon and Mayer were given apartments in the Sorbonne by Emperor Napoleon, who purchased two of Mayer's paintings in 1803. Mayer's paintings became increasingly influenced by Prud'hon and his complex historical and mythological subjects. In 1810, Mayer's father died, and she began to live with Prud'hon. The two artists worked closely together, with Prud'hon often executing drawings for a composition while Mayer completed the final canvas. In 1821, changing political fortunes threatened Prud'hon and Mayer's careers, due to the Bonapartist loyalities. When Prud'hon's wife died that year, Mayer expected her longtime partner to marry her. When he refused to do so, she died by suicide on May 26. Prud'hon organized an exhibition of her works the following year but never recovered from her death. He died in 1823 and they are buried together in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Keywords: Ephemera


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