Henriquetta GIROUARD (1817 – 1883) - Portrait of a young woman

Henriquetta GIROUARD, wife LUCQUIN
(Lisbon, 1817 – Paris, 1883)

Portrait of young woman

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
60,5 x 50 cm

Henriquetta Girouard, daughter of Auguste Girouard and Marie Espérance Ziavier was born in Lisbon in 1817. Henriquetta debuted at the Paris Salon in 1841 as a student of Nicolas Gosse (1787-1878) with a study: Young girl mourning the death of her bird. 3rd class medalist in 1847 with The Sleep of the Child Jesus, she took part in annual exhibitions until 1865 with religious, historical, genre scenes and portraits, like our painting dated 1853. Our artist also practiced pastel, of which we know the Portrait of Marie de Fresnay, Comtesse de Pierrelaye (1834-1930) - supposed daughter of Honoré de Balzac and his mistress Maria - and which is dated 1865. The work is now part of the collections of the Maison de Balzac. We also find his religious works in the churches of Frencq (Pas-de-Calais), Beaujeu (Rhône), Salinelles (Gard), Alençon (Orne), Marchéville (Eure-et-Loir) and Bidache (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The state also commissioned two portraits of Louis-Philippe, the first for the Chamber of Commerce of Nantes and the second for the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres in Niort. In 1855, the Empire commissioned a full-length portrait of His Majesty the Emperor for the Mâcon prefecture hotel. Around 1862, Henriquetta Girouard married Mr. François Théodore Lucquin (1804-1882), a rentier owner in Paris and a widower from his first marriage. The artist died at the age of 66 on December 31, 1883, at noon in his Parisian home at 150 rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin (10th arrondissement).

Museum: Paris (Maison de Balzac)