Jeanne-Marie-Catherine Desmarquets was born in Paris on 24 March 1775. She assumed the surname La Chapelle when she was adopted by a cousin. In December 1793 she married the stationer Charles-Marie Auzou. Starting in 1794, they had at least two sons, two daughters and a child who did not survive infancy. Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou bought one house of theirs in Fontenay-aux-Roses in 1820. She died in Paris in 1835 on May 15.
Career
In the early late 18th century women were generally prevented from attaining an education in art academies in France, particularly if they did not have money and connections. Auzou attended Jean-Baptiste Regnault's atelier in 1802 along with Sophie Guillemard, Eugenie Delaporte, Caroline Derigny and Henriette Lorimier. She was influenced by another woman artist, Marguerite Gérard, and by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Early in her studies and career, Auzou made paintings of legendary Greek figures. Very unusual for the time, when it was considered nearly underheard of for women to draw or paint nude people, Auzou made studies of nude women and men. Deemed inappropriate, women artists found greater success in creating paintings of women in homey settings, making music or reading. She was a successful artist, first a Neoclassist, who made historic, genre and portrait paintings, including depictions of Napoleon. She received 2,000 to 4,000 francs in stipend payments, for the creation of essentially government mandated paintings of contemporary events, including paintings made of and for Napoleon. Troubadour art, was very much a style made by male artists, but there were several artists like Eugénie Servières, Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, and who added a feminine touch to makes of Caroline, Duchesse de Berry and Empress Josephine and others. The Paris Salon opened up the exhibition to women's works in 1791. Her works were exhibited at the Paris Salon. In 1793, A Bacchante and A study of a head. She made a painting of legendary Daphnis and Phyllis, which was exhibited at the 1795 salon. In 1804, The First Sense of Coquetry was exhibited there. She was awarded a first class medal at the salon in 1806 for her painting of Pickard Elder, which in 1807 was represented in the painting Mr. Pickard and his family. In 1808, she was awarded the medaille de première classe for her work. That year she exhibited Mr. Picard and his family at the salon. She made a painting of Napoleon and his bride shown at the 1810 salon entitled Archduchess Marie-Louise in Compiègne, depicts the newly married Napoleon who looks on fondly, and secondarily, as Marie-Louise is met by her ladys-in-waiting. Other paintings made of the couple by Auzou included a painting of Marie-Louise with her family, Her Majesty the Empress, before Her Marriage, at the Moment of Taking Leave of Her Family. Shown in 1806, Departure for the Duel depicts the family drama as a man looks at his sleeping wife and child before departing for a duel. Like other women artists of this time, Auzou depicted events as they impacted families. In this case, the wife was "condemned to seduction and the child to poverty," according to art critic Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Chaussard. She exhibited at the Paris Salon until 1817 and generally until 1820. Auzou opened an art school for young women, like other women artists, Lizinka de Mirbel and Marie Guilhelmine Benoist, and men. The studio and school were maintained for 20 years. Her book Têtes d'études was published in Paris by Didot. Her painting Portrait of a musician is in the collection of the Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. Two of her works of Empress Marie-Louise are in the collections of The National Museum of Versailles, Palace of Versailles, including Her Majesty the Empress, before Her Marriage, at the Moment of Taking Leave of Her Family. Her works were collected by the Society of Friends to the Arts, Duchess de Berri and the French government. Several of these works were engraved, as well as period genre paintings such as the work engraved by John Norman, Diana of France and Montmorency.
