File:Athenais Paulinier (after Girodet) - Tete de Vierge (Head of Virgin Mary).jpg

English: Sèvres porcelain plaque painted with a quarter length portrait of the Virgin, after a lost painting by Anne-Louis Girodet entitled « Le visage de la Vierge » (The head of the Virgin), exhibited at the Salon of 1812 and the Salon of 1814.

Hard-paste porcelain and enamels

The Virgin is presented in a three-quarter profile view, gently gazing down towards her left hand, which caresses the long white veil that tumbles over her right shoulder. Her plaited light brown hair is adorned with a ferronnière, a headband encircling the forehead and, as is typical, adorned with a jewel at its centre. She wears a green grown with a red bodice embellished with fine gold detailing. In the background is a landscape of clear, slightly milky blue skies over hints of a pale blue mountain range.

Girodet’s painting canvas was exhibited at the Salon of 1812 as L’Étude de Vierge (no. 1314). It no longer survives, or has yet to be identified, but an engraved illustration from its presentation at the Salon can be found in Charles-Paul Landon, Salon 1812–Recueil de pièces choisies parmi les ouvrages de peinture et de sculpture exposés au Louvre le premier novembre 1812, Paris, 1812, vol. 2, p. 6. The work was acquired by Count Alphonse Perregaux (1785–1841) and is listed in the catalogue raisonné of his gallery of paintings in 1841. At the sale of this collection on 8 December 1841, the work was bought by a M. Paillet for 3,155 francs.

Three works on porcelain record Girodet’s composition. One is a small circular miniature measuring painted by Marie-Victoire Jaquotot (1772–1855), is currently in a private collection (sold Tajan, Paris, 5 April 2001, lot 207). According to the art historian Pierre-Alexandre Coupin, a second plaque after Girodet’s painting was also produced by Jaquotot during Girodet’s lifetime (see Pierre-Alexandre Coupin, Œuvres posthumes de Girodet Trioson, Paris, 1829, vol. 1, p. 66). Nevertheless, a letter from Athénaïs Paulinier to Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847), director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, notes that “this head being of great beauty and having the advantage of never having been copied and of being copied only by me” (A.M.N.S., Ob9.; original letter reproduced in accompanying documentation); either Paulinier was unaware that Jaquotot, her own teacher, had previously copied this painting, or Coupin’s statements are incorrect, or Jaquotot reproduced Girodet’s original only after her pupil had done so.

The correspondence between Paulinier and Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847), director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, relates the various stages in the decoration of the present plaque. It mentions the fact that Paulinier had the painting in her possession on 6 July 1833. She found the painting to be so exceptional that she asked the director of Sèvres for a new plaque in order to preserve the original painting’s dimensions: "I have at the moment at home, Monsieur, the beautiful head of the Virgin that Girodet exhibited in 1812; I intended to copy it on a plate that you kindly had delivered to me (the 30-franc one); this would make a great reduction in size; Mr Robert, who has just come to see this beautiful original, strongly urges me to copy it in the size of the model, that is, on a plate 22 ½ inches long by 18 ½ inches wide; I am very afraid of a work of this size especially after the misfortune that has befallen me; I would risk it, however, if it would make me a good study, this head being of great beauty and having the advantage of never having been copied and of being copied only by me. If it were possible for me to obtain from the factory a plate of the size I desire, and not too expensive, I would be greatly obliged to you, Monsieur...” (A.M.N.S., Ob9.).

Paulinier’s caution when it came to creating such a piece was not without cause, as this plate is remarkable for large size, a technical feat. Copying paintings onto porcelain plates is a particularly complex process: the artist must at once be a talented painter, but also have technical mastery of porcelain. A large, flat surface is extremely difficult to achieve, as is accuracy in terms of achieving vibrant colouring on that surface. A note from Brongniart indicates his acceptance of Paulinier's request, with the price rising to 300 francs, and a blank plaque was promptly delivered to Paulinier in July 1833 (A.M.N.S., Vbb 8 : Présents et ventes à crédit, juillet 1833, F. 187, recto).

On 15 October 15 of the following year, Paulinier reported on the progress of his work to Brongniart: "Please allow me, Sir, to thank you for all the interest you have shown in the success of my work. Thank God, the fire I was so dreading went off without a hitch, and its effect was even better than I had dared to hope; now I have to finish off this painting, which has cost me more work than I had ever put into anything; to do this, I have already begun the tests necessary to remedy the inconveniences you have kindly pointed out, Sir…" (A.M.N.S., Ob9.; original letter reproduced in accompanying documentation).

It was only a year later that the plaque was presented at the Salon of 1835. In a letter to Brongniart, Paulinier offered to sell his masterpiece to Sèvres for 4,000 or 5,000 francs: “I thought at the time, Monsieur, that it was not raising my pretensions too high, to ask you for four to five thousand francs for my head of the Virgin” (A.M.N.S., Ob9.). Brongniart, however, did not agree to Paulinier’s request. The plaque was finally sold at auction after Paulinier’s death for 1,000 francs