Nélie Jacquemart

Her parents had moved there from Meurthe in 1835 so that her father, Joseph, could work as a "relais" (a type of campaign worker) for Alphée Bourdon de Vatry [fr], a local candidate for National Deputy.

[1] When she displayed an early talent for art, she became a protégée of De Vatry's wife, Paméla Hainguerlot [fr], and spent summers at their hunting lodge in the former Chaalis Abbey.

de Vatry, she was able to study in the workshop of Léon Cogniet, a Professor at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, which did not accept female students at that time.

An editor at L'Illustration named Aristide Merille had them made into lithographs by Évremond de Bérard and Jules Worms and published them in the magazine later that year.

At the Salon of 1866, one of her works was purchased by the government and was on display at the Palais des Tuileries until it and the building were destroyed during the Commune.

In 1867, she was able to travel to Italy, where she studied with Ernest Hébert, Director of the Académie de France à Rome.

While she was there, she befriended Geneviève Bréton, a relative of Louis Hachette, who kept a detailed diary that sheds light on Jacquemart's character and activities.

He was ill at the time and his family insisted on a marriage contract that established a complete separation of their respective personal properties.

They were particularly interested in Italian Renaissance art and caused a scandal when they bought frescoes by Tiepolo at the Palazzo Contarini-Pisani, near Padua.