Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes, attributed to Marie-Denise Villers, circa 1801
The work depicts the 15 or 16 year old woman Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes (1786 - 1868) drawing in front of a broken window. Behind d'Ognes, a couple stand on a parapet. In the Concise Dictionary of Women Artists (2001), Valerie Mainz describes the broken window as a "tour de force of the painter's art distinguishing, in its trompe-l'oeil effect, the view of the scene outside as to be seen as only partly through glass." The room depicted in the painting is actually a gallery of the Louvre, as discovered by art historian Anne Higonnet.
The Louvre gallery discovered by Higonnet in 2014 was used by women to teach and be instructed in art. Higonnet therefore believes the painting is a portrait of a woman by a woman. The named woman, Charlotte du Val d'Ognes, once wanted to be a professional artist, but chose instead to give up art when she was married. Bridget Quinn describes the painting as a moment where "two young women longing to make art found themselves in a brief period of opportunity, when instruction, exhibition and even fame were possible."
The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1801, held at the Louvre in Paris held between 18 September and 31 October 1801, at which a number of works by women artists were shown.
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