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Birth
Marie Anne Caroline Quivoron, born in Argenton-en-Landunvez, near Brest, Brittany, north-west France. -
The birth of her sister
She had one sister, Louise, born in 1849 while her family lived near Ussel (department Corrèze in Limousin) in the ancient abbey Notre-Dame de Bonnaigue. -
Her participation in the Salon Art Exhibition
She progressed to such an extent that in 1857 she submitted a painting of her mother, sister and old teacher posed in the studio to the Salon which was accepted. She was then introduced to the painter Ingres who advised her and introduced her to two of his students, Flandrin and Signol. -
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Marie as a painter
She began having paintings accepted for the Salon on a regular basis from 1864. She produced nine etchings that were shown at the second exhibition of the Society of Painter-Etchers at the Galeries Durand-Ruel in 1890. Between 1887 and 1890, under the influence of the Impressionists, Bracquemond's style began to change. Her canvases grew larger and her colours intensified. She moved out of doors, and to her husband's disgust, Monet and Degas became her mentors. -
Engagement with Félix Bracquemond
It was while she was copying Old Masters in the Louvre that she saw Félix Bracquemond, who fell in love with her. His friend, the critic Eugène Montrosier, arranged an introduction and, from then, she and Félix were inseparable. They were engaged for two years before marrying. -
Leaving Ingres' studio
She later left Ingres' studio and began receiving commissions for her work, including one from the court of Empress Eugenie for a painting of Cervantes in prison. This evidently pleased, because she was then asked by the Count de Nieuwerkerke, the director-general of French museums, to make important copies in the Louvre. -
Copies for the Louvre
After 1868 Marie Bracquemond was asked by Count de Nieuwekerke to make professional copies in the Louvre. Two copies she made were in the 1919 catalogue. She also made a copy of Leseur depicting Jesus appearing as a gardener to Marie-Magdalena for the churche St. Eloi. She made a copy of ‘Christ cruxifié’ by Vélasquez which is now in a chapel in Plouha, Britany. Maybe she also made copies of paintings depicting the empress Eugénie ‘à demi-corps’. -
Marriage
She married Félix on 5 August 1869, despite her mother's opposition. -
Her son, Pierre
In 1870, they had their only child, Pierre. Because of the scarcity of good medical care during the War of 1870 and the Paris Commune, Bracquemond's already delicate health deteriorated after her son's birth. Much of what is known of Bracquemond's personal life comes from an unpublished short biography authored by her son, entitled La Vie de Félix et Marie Bracquemond. -
The artistic Barcquemond family
Félix and Marie Bracquemond worked together at the Haviland studio at Auteuil where her husband had become artistic director. She designed plates for dinner services and executed large tile panels (once known as faience) depicting Les Muses des arts (The muses of the arts), which were shown at the Universal Exhibition of 1878. The work is now considered lost. -
A little break from painting
In 1890, Marie Bracquemond, worn out by the continual household friction and discouraged by lack of interest in her work, abandoned her painting except for a few private works. -
Death
She died in Paris on January 17, 1916. On January 23, art critic Arsène Alexandre paid tribute to her memory in the newspaper Le Figaro. In the article, Alexandre wrote that Bracquemond "was one of those artists ignored, of which the times to come will astonish, both the rare talent and the voluntary shadow in which this talent enveloped itself", and described Bracquemond as an "exquisite painter" whose character "was worthy of the work: sensitive, proud and an almost excessive modesty." -
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Legacy
She was described in 1928 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. Feminist art criticism in the 1970s brought attention to women in the Impressionist art movement, and renewed interest in her forgotten work. In the 1980s, art historian Tamar Garb popularized women artists like her with the publication of Women Impressionists, leading to a new era of research on the subject. She was later included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris.