Records of Charpentier's training are unclear, but she might have studied with numerous artists.

She is typically believed to have studied with the acclaimed French painter Jacques-Louis David, but may also have been a pupil of François Gérard, Pierre Bouillon, Louis Lafitte and either Johann Georg Wille or his son, Pierre-Alexandre Wille.

[2][3] It is believed that some of Charpentier's works were incorrectly attributed to her teacher, David.

[4] The well-known painting Young Woman Drawing (1801) was incorrectly attributed first to David, then to Charpentier, and is now believed to be the work of Marie-Denise Villers.

[5] Based on surviving, positively identified works by Charpentier, she is considered one of the finest portrait painters of her era.