With the virtuous hand required for miniature work Marie-Victoire Jaquotot paints and edit in extraordinary fine execution, the adornement of the Graces.
They, too, as in Raphael, are adorned with jewels offered by the sea, element of life, but instead of red corals, they carry necklaces of candescent pearls, for millennia a symbol of love, luck and prosperity. The spherical beauty of the pearl, born from the creative force of nature, even in the beautiful and bizarre forms, even today, is still considered as the most mysterious and feminine of jewels. A jewel also preferred by Jaquotot who in some of his self-portraits shows many of these necklaces.
That the blue sky is attenuated by cloud layers, and the fruit in the hands is not red but has gold color is clear, but it may be interesting to describe other details designed by the artist.
Right on the edge of the lawn is painted a rock, not well striking in the picture of Raffaello, but that it is found in many mural paintings of the Three Graces to Pompeii, and perhaps it has a symbolic meaning yet to be defined.
In the bottom left in the foreground, the almost dry tuft of grass is greening and it is accompanied by a plant. Not only to beautify the decor, but in allusion to such natural female beauty of the three graces. It is centella asiatica (Hydrocotyla). An herb from which – since archaic times – is derived a medicinal extract efficacious in phytotherapy for treating skin diseases, cellulitis and other ailments and of course indispensable in the care of feminine beauty.
Short chronic of Marie-Victoire Jaquotot
1795
At age 18 she seems to have exhibited design works at the Salon de Paris.
1798
Learn painting on porcelain in the manufactory Dihl & Guérhard where Jean Etienne Leguay is director.
1801
Is a painter of decorations on porcelain at Sèvres and also “artiste consultant”. A.Brongniart is director of the factory which in 1802 under the administration of D.V. Denon begins the production of shapes and decoration in the Empire style.
1805
Married J. E. Leguay and lives at number 48, Rue de Bondy. Keeps the name Jaquotot as an artist name.
1807
Separates from LeGuay and maintains the address. Exposes work on porcelain with her name. She works occasionally for manufacturing Dihl (with the divorce in 1810 she will be able to get married a second time later).
1808
Decorate the gift for “peace of Tilsitt” ordered by Napoleon and which is honoured with a gold medal.
1810
Performs in Sèvres together with LeGuay many orders asked by the imperial house. The art on porcelain is very much estimated and it finds also consent to reproduce in this technique works of art threatened by irreparable damages. The future king Ludwig von Bayern gives the factory Nymphenburg responsibility, of copying on porcelain works of the royal gallery.
1813-1814
Performs a portrait of Napoleon. Works in Sèvres successfully and continuously even during the Restoration. Broignart still directs the factory.
1816
Receives from Louis XVIII for the first time the prestigious title of “Peintre sur porcelaine du roi”. Founded a school of painting on porcelain.
1821
Copy “Amor and Psyche” by F. Gérard (the 56 x 43 cm plate is now in the Musée des Ceramique, Sevres).
1823
Receives continuous orders from the royal house of Louis XVIII. The portrait of the king executed on porcelain is in the Louvre.
1825
Lives at no. 14, Rue Jacob. Receives visits in the atelier of high-ranking persons, among others, the reigning king of Würtenburg.
1827
Home, studio and school are now at number 5 Quai Voltaire, the apartment inhabited first by D.V. Denon.
1830
King Charles X replaces Louis XVIII. With the change of government are suspended orders from the royal house.
1832
Undertakes voyages to Germany where in Baden she shows her work in an exhibition.
1837
Traveled in Germany and also in Italy where she exhibited her works for sale, of which there is a list. From Florence which is threatened by cholera and with stays in Emilia, Lombardia and Piemonte returns to France.
1838
Is again in Italy on Brongniart’s assignment to execute the copy of Raphael’s “St. Agnes”, which will serve the replacement of original work that was confiscated by the French and then returned in possession of’ Italy.
1840
Always works and lives in Paris four years at no. 91, Rue de Sèvres and later to no. 20, Rue Louis LeGrand.
1852
She decides to move to Toulouse, at no. 38, Rue Bachelier, where he lived until his death in 1855.
Literature on M.V. Jaquotots excluded Encyclopaedia notes:
Article in “Antiquitäten Zeitung” Nr. 6, 1981. Article by R. Rückert in “Weltkunst” 1985 Munich. Publication of Société de l’Histoire de l’Art français, 2002: Marie-Victoire Jaquotot, Peintre sur porcelaine, by Anne Lajoix. ISBN: 2-9523522-16
Credits:
Centella asiatica: Funaki By (Self-photographed) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/CentellaAsiatica.jpg