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Madeleine Lemaire
The pearl necklace and the violets. Women in art!

1910

About the Item

“The pearl necklace and the violets” . Oil on canvas 83x103cm, signed, untouched. An excellent example of french academic art from late XIX century. A great example of women in art. Recognised for her natural authority, energy and humility, Madeleine Lemaire is perhaps better known to us as the socialite Madame de Villeparisis and the tyrannical Madame Verdurin in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. A few photographic portraits show her in her studio, a conservatory in the Plaine Monceau district where she entertained guests from all walks of life. Every Tuesday evening, writers, musicians and actors from the Comédie-Française and politicians flocked to her very sought-after musical and literary salon. The dandy Robert de Montesquiou was a regular visitor. Tenor Reynaldo Hahn won over his first audiences there, and M. Proust was initiated into the fever of socialite life at her salon in 1891. In the summer, the whole company was hosted by their benevolent friend at her Château de Réveillon in the Marne, where M. Proust wrote Les Plaisirs et les Jours while R. Hahn created four piano pieces and M. Lemaire painted watercolours of wildflowers. Born into the upper middle-class, the daughter of General Baron Joseph Habert and niece of famous miniaturist Mathilde Herbelin (1820-1904), who also ran a salon, M. Lemaire developed social skills that benefitted the practice of her art. However, she refused to remain confined to the salons. Villeparisis and Verdurin only briefly outshine the independent artist she was, who was resolved to assert herself amidst a very masculine assembly. M. Lemaire had spent her childhood in the presence of artists. Her aunt was her first teacher, and Charles Chaplin (1825-1891) later became her tutor. The portraits she exhibited at the Salon from the age of nineteen showed the influence of 18th-century art. Her marriage to municipal civil servant Camille Lemaire in 1870 and subsequent motherhood never prevented her from working tirelessly to perfect her precocious talent. Her relationship with Alexandre Dumas fils cemented her position within the artistic elites and marked her emancipation and her move towards a more personal output.
  • Creator:
    Madeleine Lemaire (1845 - 1928, French)
  • Creation Year:
    1910
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 32.68 in (83 cm)Width: 40.56 in (103 cm)Depth: 1.97 in (5 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1599216208142

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