HOME | DD

Description
She was born Marie-Denise Lemoine in Paris. She came from an artistic family, and her sisters Marie-Victoire Lemoine and Marie-Élisabeth Gabiou were also accomplished artists.

In 1794, Marie-Denise married an architecture student, Michel-Jean-Maximilien Villers. Villers was a student of the French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. She also took lessons with François Gérard and Jacques-Louis David.

She was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of the Year VII (1799). Villers' most famous painting, Young Woman Drawing, (1801) is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting was attributed to Jacques-Louis David at one time, but was later realized to be Villers' work. It may be a self-portrait of the artist.

She exhibited at the Salon of 1801 a "Study of a young woman sitting on a window", followed in 1802 by a genre painting, entitled "A child in its cradle". Her last known work is a portrait of the Duchess of Angouleme, exhibited in 1814.

Description
She was born Marie-Denise Lemoine in Paris. She came from an artistic family, and her sisters Marie-Victoire Lemoine and Marie-Élisabeth Gabiou were also accomplished artists.

In 1794, Marie-Denise married an architecture student, Michel-Jean-Maximilien Villers. Villers was a student of the French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. She also took lessons with François Gérard and Jacques-Louis David.

She was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of the Year VII (1799). Villers' most famous painting, Young Woman Drawing, (1801) is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting was attributed to Jacques-Louis David at one time, but was later realized to be Villers' work. It may be a self-portrait of the artist.

She exhibited at the Salon of 1801 a "Study of a young woman sitting on a window", followed in 1802 by a genre painting, entitled "A child in its cradle". Her last known work is a portrait of the Duchess of Angouleme, exhibited in 1814.