The Sleep of Venus and Cupid (1806)

Marie-Constance Mayer: The Sleep of Venus and Cupid

Marie-Constance Mayer painted portraits, allegorical works and genre scenes. She studied with Joseph-Benoît Suvée, Jean-Baptiste Greuze and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon. It was Prud'hon with whom she had a star-crossed relationship: living with him for years as his "assistant" and "housekeeper," she committed suicide in 1822 in dramatic fashion (razor across the throat) when he refused to marry her, instead opting to join the religious life.  "Distressed by her death," Prud'hon himself died a year later; they are buried together.

Mayer was at one time a prominent enough artist that Napoleon himself purchased two of her works.

Below is Prud'hon's portrait of Mayer, done in 1804.