Marguerite Gérard (28 January 1761 in Grasse – 18 May 1837 in Paris)[1] was a French painter and printmaker working in the Rococo style.

[5] She lived in the Louvre with them for approximately thirty years,[6] allowing her to view and be inspired by great artworks of the past and present.

[7] The academy denied women the free art training offered to men at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, or the right to compete for the prestigious Prix de Rome.

[2][4] The depiction of everyday life closely resembles the style of Gerard Ter Borch and Gabriël Metsu, Dutch artists from the seventeenth century.

Depicting the minor domestic dramas in the homes of the rich middle class, Marguerite Gérard not only paved the way for other women artists, but also men of the next generation, including her nephew Alexandre Evariste, to whom she tried to be what Fragonard had been to her.

However, unlike other female painters who liked to refer to classical antiquity, Marguerite Gérard often used costumes and settings from a few centuries before her own.

Many of her paintings illustrate the experience of motherhood and childhood within the home, and several emphasize the importance of music and female companionship.

This engraving's subject matter helped introduce Gérard's work to a larger audience since prints could be produced easily.

By her mid-20s, Gérard had developed her signature style, which featured painstakingly accurate details rendered with subtly blended brush strokes.