Élisabeth Sophie Chéron (3 October 1648, Paris – 3 September 1711, Paris) is remembered today primarily as a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 painter, but she was acclaimed in her lifetime as a gifted poet, musician, artist, and academicienne.

Life

She was trained by her artist father, while still a child, in the arts of enamelling and miniature painting. Her father was a rigid Calvinist

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

, and endeavored to influence his daughter to adopt his religious belief, but her mother was a fervent Roman Catholic, and she persuaded Elizabeth to pass a year in a convent, during which time she ardently embraced the Catholic faith. At 22 she was admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture

Académie de peinture et de sculpture

The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture , Paris, was founded in 1648, modelled on Italian examples, such as the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Paris already had the Académie de Saint-Luc, which was a city artist guild like any other Guild of Saint Luke...

 as a portrait painter under the sponsorship of the influential artist Charles Le Brun

Charles Le Brun

Charles Le Brun , a French painter and art theorist, became the all-powerful, peerless master of 17th-century French art.-Biography:-Early life and training:...

. She was the fourth woman painter to enter the academy, nine years after Catherine Girardon, and three years after Madeleine and Geneviève, the two daughters of Louis de Boullogne

Louis de Boullogne

Louis de Boullogne II , known as Boullogne fils, was a French painter.-Life:The brother of Bon Boullogne, their father Louis Boullogne feared rivalry between the two brothers if Louis the younger also became a painter and so at first opposed his wish to become a painter...

.

She exhibited regularly at the Salon, and at the same time produced poetry and translations. She was fluent in Hebrew, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, and Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

. She published her book of Psalm paraphrases in 1694, as the, Essay de pseaumes et cantiques mis en vers, et enrichis de figures. Her literary talent was recognized in 1699 when she was named a member of the Accademia dei Ricovrati, in Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

, under the academician name of Erato

Erato

In Greek mythology, Erato is one of the Greek Muses. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of his Argonautica....

. Her Psalms were later set to music by Jean-Baptiste Drouart de Bousset and Antonia Bembo

Antonia Bembo

Antonia Bembo was an Italian composer and singer. She was born in Venice and died in Paris. She was the daughter of Giacomo Padoani, a doctor, and married Lorenzo Bembo in 1659. She moved to Paris before 1676, possibly to leave a bad marriage. There she sang for Louis XIV...

, a Venetian noblewoman.

She was an affectionate daughter to both her parents and devoted her earnings to her brother Louis

Louis Chéron

Louis Chéron was a French painter, illustrator and art tutor.-Life:Born into a French Protestant family of artists . He trained under his father then at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture...

, who studied art in Italy. She was indifferent to proposals of marriage throughout her life, many from brilliant men in her intellectual circle. In 1692, at age 60, and to the surprise of her friends she married Jacques Le Hay, the King

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

's engineer, after which she was known as Madame Le Hay.

She died at aged sixty-three and is buried in the church of Saint Sulpice, Paris. The following lines are placed beneath her portrait in the church:

"The unusual possession of two exquisite talents will render Cheron an ornament to France for all time. Nothing save the grace of her brush could equal the excellencies of her pen."

Works

Especially well known are her portrait of Antoinette Deshoulières and her Descent from the Cross.

Her notable writings are:

• Livre des Principes à Dessiner , 1706 ; A book of principles in drawing,
• Psaumes et Cantiques mis en vers , 1694 ; Psalms and Canticles,
• Le Cantique d'Habacuc et le Psaume , traduit en vers ; The Song of Habakkuk and the Psalm, verse translated;
• Les Cerises Renversées , a small poem published in 1717 after her death, and put into Latin verse by Raux, in 1797.