“Still, no one much celebrated having found a previously unknown painter [Marie Denise Villers] who was equal to the great David. Though the public continued to love the painting - they may not have known David from Delacroix, at any rate - soma academics had a change of heart about the painting itself. Sterling (see start of chapter) said some not-very nice things, beginning with, "The notion that our portrait may have been painted by a woman is, let us confess, an attractive idea." Why attractive? Because it explains everything wrong with the work: "cleverly concealed weaknesses" and "a thousand subtle artifices" that all add up to "the feminine spirit." In other words: Isn't that just like a woman?” ArtFeminismArt HistoryFemale ArtistMarie Denise Villers Book:Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History Source: Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History