French painter.
Name variations: Marie Françoise Constance Mayer; M arie-F-Constance Mayer Lamarriniere. Born in 1775 or 1778, in Paris, France; committed suicide on May 27, 1821 ; dau. of a customs official; studied art privately in Paris with J.B. Suvee and Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Exhibited in the Salons beginning in 1796, and was then invited by painter Pierre-Paul Prud’hon to work in his atelier; from 1802 on, assisted Prud’hon and executed her own paintings; her hand is evident in several of works signed by Prud’hon, including Innocence Seduced by Love and The Dying Laborer, though her paintings belonged to the traditional genre that was expected in the Salons during this era, exhibited a distinctive talent for conveying animated personalities and lively scenes; commissioned by Empress Josephine to paint The Sleep of Psyche, which was exhibited at the 1806 Salon under title The Sleeping Venus with Cupid Caressed and Wakened by Zephyrs; paintings are held in private collections and in collections of Louvre in Paris, Wallace Collection in London, Baltimore Museum of Art, and museums of Dijon and Nancy, France, among others.
