Hortense Richard

Hortense Richard was a French painter born in Paris, active in France during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her significance lies in a career closely tied to the official art world of her time: she exhibited at the Paris Salon regularly between 1875 and 1935, and some of her works are held by the Louvre.

She trained with Delphine Arnould de Cool-Fortin, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Baptiste Bertrand. In 1879 she married the painter Désiré Alfred Magne.

In 1893 she took part in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, showing work at the Palace of Fine Arts and the Woman's Building. Among the works now in the Louvre are portraits such as Portrait of a Young Brunette and Side Portrait of a Young Blond Lady, along with The Letter of Manon. She also worked on less common supports, such as porcelain in Love's Awakening and ivory in The Sleeping Woman (1893), and painted At the Church in Poitou (1895).

The dates of her birth and death are not consistent across records: she was born in 1858 or 1860 and died in 1939 or 1940.