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A Woman Seated on a Balustrade

ca. 1801
Not on view
Only about five paintings by Villers are known today, one of the most important being The Met’s famous image of a draftswoman, known as Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes. Villers showed that portrait at the Salon of 1801 alongside the lifesize version of this composition, for which this is the artist’s rare oil study. Villers perfected the simple arrangement of fashionable dress, interiors, and architecture, often innovatively back-lit in a manner that imbues her figures with an incandescent glow.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Woman Seated on a Balustrade
  • Artist: Marie Denise Villers (French, Paris 1774–1821 Paris (?))
  • Date: ca. 1801
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 10 1/4 × 7 5/16 in. (26 × 18.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Dick Wolf Collection, Gift of Dick Wolf, 2026
  • Object Number: 2026.360.3
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868), Marie Denise Villers French, Oil on canvas
Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786–1868)
Marie Denise Villers
1801
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Mezzetin, Antoine Watteau French, Oil on canvas
Mezzetin
Antoine Watteau
ca. 1718–20
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, Lithograph printed in four colors; three sheets of wove paper
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Printer Affiches Américaines, Charles Lévy
1891
Queen Henrietta Maria, Anthony van Dyck Flemish, Oil on canvas
Queen Henrietta Maria
Anthony van Dyck
1636

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