Isabelle Pinson (/ˈpɪnsən/, French: [pɛ̃sɔ̃] ^ⓘ; née Proteau; 26 June 1769 – 18 November 1855), commonly known as Madame Pinson, was a French genre painter and portrait painter. She is best known for her artwork, "The Fly Catcher" prominently exhibited at the Snite Museum of Art during 2019.^[1]

Isabelle was born on 26 June 1769 in Paris, France^[2] and baptized at Saint-Sulpice, Paris.^[3] She was named after her godmother and mother's employer, Isabelle de Jaucourt.^[3] Before her birth, her parents, Fabien Proteau and his wife, Marie Bourdereau married in 1768.^[3][4]

Isabelle's mother, Marie was a native to Brinon-sur-Beuvron. Eleven years prior to her birth, In 1758, Marie became a chambermaid to Isabelle de Jaucourt, sister of Louis de Jaucourt.^[3][5]

Fabien Proteau, father of Isabelle, was a Burgundian; he served as a valet to the Viscount of Jaucourt until his death on 17 April 1771.^[6]

After the death of her father, Isabelle was taken under the care of her godmother, Isabelle de Jaucourt.^[4] She received lessons from Jean-Baptiste Regnault and François-André Vincent.^[3][4][7] It's possible Isabelle met Jean-Antoine Houdon from her early childhood with the Jaucourt family.^{[8][note 1]}

Portrait of Mme Pinson by Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux (1790s)

Portrait of M. Pinson by Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux (1790s)

On 19 July 1792, Isabelle discreetly married André-Pierre Pinson [fr] in a property he had purchased from Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans in the Clichy-en-Launois (now Clichy-sous-Bois).^[9] She was 23 and he was 32 years her senior.^[9]

As a painter, Isabelle significantly distinguished herself as a portraitist. In particular, she produced portraits of medical personalities.^[9] At the Salon of 1801, Isabelle exhibited a painting of Jacques-René Tenon.^[9]

Furthermore, a work by Isabelle Pinson is part of the collections of the Palace of Versailles. It depicts man of letters, Pierre-Noël Famin.^[10] It was offered at the museum in 1839 by Pierre-Jules Jollivet, a grandson of one of the sisters of Famin.^[10]

In 1811, Isabelle and her husband acquired a property called the "Ferme de Rochefort" in Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil.^[10] On 19 July 1828, her husband died in the same village on their 36th wedding anniversary.^[11] On 18 November 1855, Isabelle died in Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil.^[12]

• 
  Self-Portrait at an Easel and With a Young Girl, 1804
• 
  The Fly Catcher, 1808
• 
  Portrait of Pierre Sue, 1809
• 
  Portrait of Philippe Petit-Radel, before 1815
• 
  Meeting of St Germanus of Auxerre with Genevieve of Paris, 1821
• 
  Presumed portrait of the artist's mother, Marie Bourdereau, widow Proteau, undated

• 
  Portrait of a man in a grey jacket, 1779
• 
  Portrait of a woman in a blue dress, 1779
• 
  Portrait of a woman with crimped hair breastfeeding, in a blue dress, 1780
• 
  Portrait d'homme en veste mauve à jabot de dentelles, coiffé d'une perruque, 1780
• 
  Family Group, 1781
• 
  Presumed portrait of Rosalie Dugazon, 1787
• 
  Music-making company in the park, 18th-century

• Media related to Isabelle Pinson at Wikimedia Commons