Antoinette Hérault

Entry by Sandrine Lely, 2004

Antoinette Hérault, one of twelve children of the painter and art merchant Antoine Hérault and Madeleine Bruyant, was born in Paris on July 13, 1642. Her elder sister Madeleine (1635-1682) was also an artist, married to Noël Coypel, while their brother Charles-Antoine (1644-1718) was admitted into the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as a landscape painter. Antoinette learned drawing and painting in the family studio.

In November 1665 (contract dated Nov. 10, A.N., Min. Cent., CXV) Antoinette married Guillaume Chasteau (1634-1683), an engraver, publisher, and dealer in prints. Guillaume had become a member of the Royal Academy in 1663. The couple had at least eight children. The Chasteaus were given several official commissions thanks to the protection of Colbert. In 1680, Antoinette painted a copy in miniature of Charles Le Brun's Alexander and the Family of Darius (measuring more than 3 x 4 meters). This achievement earned her seven hundred livres, a large amount for a miniature. Louis XIV took notice of the work during a visit of his collections in the Louvre in December 1681 and subsequently presented it to the Grand Dauphin. Shortly afterwards, Antoinette painted two other miniatures -of unknown subject matter- for the oratory of the Dauphine, Marie-Anne of Bavaria, who thanked her with a "considerable gift" according to Florent Le Comte. Colbert then commissioned a copy of a huge painting by Le Brun entitled Porus and Alexander, measuring more than four meters in height and twelve meters in width and including dozens of figures. Completed in 1683, the result in miniature was a remarkable feat; yet because of Colbert's death, it was not presented to the king and Antoinette received no payment. By then a widow, Antoinette seems not to have been given any further commissions by the new Superintendent of the King's Works, Louvois. Nonetheless, she continued working for a princely clientele, which included Anne-Marie d'Orléans, known as La Grande Mademoiselle. On Dec. 6, 1686, she entered into a second marriage with the engraver and ornament painter Jean-Baptiste Bonnart (1654-1726). No further record of her life survives.

An extant apprenticeship contract (A.N. Min. Cent. CIX, 233) testifies to her role as a teacher. In July 1667, Marie Duval was apprenticed to the Chasteaus to study engraving with Guillaume and miniature painting with Antoinette. The fragile nature of the technique used for miniatures in the seventeenth century -watercolor on sheets of vellum- has led to the complete disappearance of Antoinette's oeuvre. However, her contemporaries held her to be one of the most talented miniaturists of her day; her works brought high prices and were certainly very much in demand. Her paintings seem to have been particularly popular with women at court -amongst her patrons were Mlle de Montpensier, Marie-Anne of Bavaria and, if an old inventory is to be believed, Mme de Maintenon. She was nonetheless rapidly forgotten after her death. After Florent Le Comte's book dating from 1700, it was not until the twentieth century that her name reappeared, and even then as no more than a member of the Hérault and Coypel painting dynasties.

(translated by Susan Pickford)

Works

- 1680 : La Famille de Darius. Miniature d'après Charles Le Brun. Disparue.
- v. 1681-1683 : Alexandre et Porus. Miniature d'après Charles Le Brun. Disparue.
- ? : Vierge assise, tenant l'enfant Jésus qui a le coude appuyé sur un piédestal. En 1733, cette miniature se trouvait à Marly. Disparue.
- ? : Le Martyre de saint Étienne. Miniature d'après Annibal Carrache. En 1710, elle se trouvait à Marly, dans la Chambre de Mme de Maintenon. Disparue.
- ? : Sainte Catherine tenant une palme, sur un fond de paysage. Miniature. En 1710, elle se trouvait à Marly, dans la Chambre de Mme de Maintenon. Disparue.
- ? : L'Enfant Jésus avec saint Jean et son agneau. Miniature ovale. En 1733, elle se trouvait à Marly, dans la chambre de la reine, près de son lit. Disparue.

Selected bibliography

- Engerand, Fernand. Inventaire des tableaux du Roy rédigé en 1709 et 1710 par Nicolas Bailly. Paris, 1899, p.546.
- Garnier, Nicole. Antoine Coypel (1661-1722). Paris, Arthena, 1989.
- Janneau, Guillaume. La Peinture française au XVIIe siècle. Genève, Pierre Cailler, 1965, p.250, 251, 336.
-Préaud, Maxime, et al. Dictionnaire des éditeurs d'estampes à Paris sous l'Ancien Régime. Paris, Promodis/Cercle de la Librairie, 1987, p.77-78.

Reception

- «Sa Majesté apres avoir veu les Tableaux des sept grandes Salles du vieux Louvre, alla voir ceux qui sont dans les quatre Salles du vieil Hôtel de Gramont. Elle y trouva la Famille de Darius peinte en miniature d'apres Mr le Brun. Cet Ouvrage doit estre beau, puis qu'il avoit esté jugé digne de tenir une place parmy les plus beaux Tableaux du monde. Le travail en est extraordinaire et grand, et peu de gens ont fait des miniatures sans blanc aussi considerables et aussi finies; et ce qui vous surprendra, c'est que celle-là est d'une Femme. Elle a esté faite par Mademoiselle Chateau, ce nom est connu. Elle est Femme de Mr Chateau, Graveur ordinaire du Roy, et qui a gravé beaucoup de Tableaux du Cabinet de Sa Majesté. Les Ouvrages de cette Illustre sont fort recherchez, et elle en a fait pour beaucoup de Souverains. Le Roy fit present de celuy de la Famille de Darius à Monseigneur le Dauphin, qui fait depuis quelques temps amas de Curiositez pour en composer un Cabinet. La mesme travaille presentement à la Bataille de Porus; et quoy que ce soit une fort grande entreprise, cet Ouvrage est déjà très-avancé» (Mercure galant, décembre 1681, p.251-254).