The Fragonard Museum in Grasse, France, is presenting the first-ever monographic exhibition dedicated to Adèle de Romance (1769-1846), a largely forgotten female portrait painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Running from June 14 to October 12, 2025, this intimate retrospective continues the museum's ongoing cycle celebrating women artists from the same generation as Marguerite Gérard, a prominent painter featured in the museum's permanent collection.
The exhibition follows a successful 2023 presentation devoted to the Lemoine sisters and their cousin Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet. Both exhibitions are curated by art historian Carole Blumenfeld, a specialist in genre painting and portraiture from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who has proven particularly skilled at bringing forgotten artistic figures back into the spotlight.
Researching Adèle de Romance presented significant challenges for the curator, as biographical sources contained numerous errors and French bibliographic materials were virtually nonexistent. The artist's use of various surnames throughout her career further complicated matters - she was born "de Romance" but appeared in various Salon exhibitions under different names including "Romance," "Romany," "Romani," "Romanée," "Romany-de-Romance," and simply "AR."
Through extensive research and examination of previously unpublished archival documents, many of which are transcribed in the exhibition catalog's appendices, Blumenfeld has established a clearer biography of the artist. This scholarly work has also refined understanding of Romance's artistic corpus, revealing previously unknown paintings as well as new attributions and identifications.
The exhibition showcases Romance's skill as a portraitist through works such as her 1800 "Portrait of a Young Person and Her Brother, Amélie Justine and Charles Edouard Pontois," an oil on canvas measuring 92 x 73 cm from a private Paris collection. Another highlight is her 1802 "Portrait of Alexandrine Florence Virginie Casimire Thevenet de Montgarrel near a Piano Holding a Music Book," a larger work measuring 98.5 x 80 cm, also from a private collection.
Additional works include "Portrait of a Woman Holding a Basket of Flowers," dating from around the same period, demonstrating Romance's ability to capture both formal portraits and more intimate, domestic scenes. These paintings reveal an artist who worked within the conventions of her time while developing her own distinctive approach to portraiture.
This exhibition represents an important step in recovering the artistic legacy of women painters who, despite their talent and productivity during their lifetimes, have been largely overlooked by art history. The Fragonard Museum's commitment to highlighting these forgotten female artists provides valuable insight into the broader artistic landscape of late 18th and early 19th-century French painting, beyond the well-known male masters of the period.
