A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Cheron, (Elizabeth Sophia)
CHERON, (ELIZABETH SOPHIA) born at Paris, 1648, died 1711, aged 63, distinguished herself greatly by her Application to Music, Painting, and Poetry;
Daughter of Henry Cheron, a painter, native of Meaux, and educated in the protestant religion; but became, some years afterwards, a catholic. Le Brun, in 1676, invited her to the meetings of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. She understood Latin, Italian, and Spanish; played on several instruments, and had a fine voice. Her portraits, amongst which are several crowned heads, were always painted in an allegorical and ingenious manner.
Her chief historical pieces are, a Flight into Egypt; Cassandra interrogating a Familiar on the Fate of Troy; and Jesus in a Sepulchre. The only portrait ever taken of Madame des Houlieres was done by her.
None surpassed her in the variety of her accomplishments and talents. Her poetry has ease, gaiety and imagination. And, besides several smaller pieces, some original, some translations, after studying Hebrew, that she might better understand the Psalms and Canticles, she published translations of them in French verse.
She did not alone excel in portraits, but understood figures, and her groups are much admired by connoisseurs. She is said to have been able to join cheerfully in any conversation without the least interruption to her pencil. She was respected and admired by all lovers of literature. The emperor Joseph offered her a considerable pension if she would remove to Vienna; and, on her declining it, sent her models of his face and those of all the imperial family. She had a pension of 500 livres from Lewis XIV. At the age of 60 she married le Hay, engineer to the king, an old friend, merely to raise his fortune. She was exceedingly pious and amiable.