The Virgin Placing St. Teresa of Avila Under the Protection of St. Joseph

François Guillaume Ménageot French

Not on view


This oil sketch is a study for a painting commissioned for the chapel of the Carmelites at Saint-Denis by Madame Louise de France, daughter of King Louis XV, now in the Hôtel-Dieu, Québec. Ménageot first drew the outlines of the forms on paper and then used oil paint to create a sense of atmosphere, balancing the gray clouds with a golden light falling from above.

In 1787, the year the altarpiece was finished, Ménageot was appointed director of the Académie de France in Rome. Jacques Louis David’s name had also been put forward for the post, but he was ultimately deemed too young and inexperienced.

The Virgin Placing St. Teresa of Avila Under the Protection of St. Joseph, François Guillaume Ménageot (French, London 1744–1816 Paris), Oil paint over pen and brown ink, on paper, mounted on canvas

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