Anne Baptiste Nivelon

Anne Féret, later known as Anne Baptiste Nivelon, was born circa 1711 to Jean-Baptiste Féret, a landscape and history painter agréé at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, and Marie-Anne Thibert.

In January 1741, she married François Nivelon at a ceremony attended by prominent members of the French nobility, including the Comte de Gramont, the Maréchale d’Estrées, the Comtesse de Mailly, and the Comtesse de Vintimille.^[1] The couple lived in Versailles on rue de Satory.^[2][3]

Around the mid-18th century, Nivelon became active as an artist, with her most notable works dating from 1750 to 1764.^[4] She worked largely for members of the court.^[5] Nivelon likely adopted the name Baptiste, which does not appear in civil records, in reference to her father, a court painter to the king.^[6] Her adoption of two names typically used for men during the Ancien régime later caused confusion about her gender.^[7]

Following her husband’s death in 1770, Nivelon appears to have continued her artistic work until her later years.^[6] She died on 16 February 1786, at the age of approximately 74, and was buried the following day.^[8]

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  Louis de France, Dauphin (1764), Chambre de Madame Victoire, Château de Versailles
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  Marie-Josèphe of Saxony (1764), Chambre de Madame Victoire, Château de Versailles
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  Victoire de France playing the harpsichord
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  Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Duke of Belle-Isle (portrait)