Antoinette Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot Biography

Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, born Antoinette Cécile Hortense Viel (1784-1845), was a French painter, mainly of genre and historical scenes.

She was born in Paris to Jean-Baptiste Viel, a perfumer, and his wife Cécile, née Lejeune. Her mother became a widow two years later and remarried Jean-Louis Lescot, a pharmacist.

At the age of seven, she began her studies with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, a popular history painter and family friend. When he was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome in 1807, she and several other artists followed him. They arrived in 1808, and she remained until 1816. There she depicted the customs and costumes of Italian peasants in great detail, which influenced much of her later work. During this time, she began signing her works with the name "Lescot".

Beginning in 1811, she sent her paintings to Paris to be exhibited at the Salon. Her work attracted the attention of the Duchess of Berry who in 1816 appointed her to be her personal painter. In 1820, she married the architect Louis-Pierre Haudebourt (1788-1849), with whom she had a son. Their home became a gathering place for the artistic and literary elite.

As a teacher, Haudebourt-Lescot's pupils included the painters Herminie Déhérain and Marie-Ernestine Serret.

She died in Paris on 2 January 1845. Her works may be seen at the Louvre Museum, the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, and at the Musée Jean de La Fontaine.