1937 Villers "Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes" Art Print

Vintage 1937 art print of Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1801) in deep rich tones. 

10 3/4" x 14"

This specific reproduction from 1937 holds a bit of extra history as it is incorrectly attributed to Jacques Louis David beneath the image. The painting is now attributed to Marie-Denise Villers. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting was first acquired by the museum in 1922 and attributed to Jacques Louis David. Later, the painting was attributed to Constance Marie Charpentier and finally to Villers.

Because the painting is unsigned, it has been attributed incorrectly over time. A member of the Val d'Ognes family believed it had been painted by David. In 1951, Charles Sterling of the Met admitted that the painting may not have been David's. Sterling was first tipped off that the painting was not David's because the artist had boycotted the 1801 Salon at which the painting had first been exhibited. The mistake was published in the Met's January 1951 Bulletin. The painting may have been Constance Marie Charpentier's because of some evidence found in Salon entries seem to indicate it was hers, however David's name did not come off of the frame until 1977. Sterling's reattribution of the painting to Charpentier was also based on analysis of her painting, Melancholy (1801).

Later, in 1996, Margaret Oppenheimer realized that the painting should instead be attributed to Marie Denise Villers. Oppenheimer's reattribution is based on a modello by Villers, A Young Woman Seated by a Window.