Clara Filleul de Pétigny (1822–1878)

Clara Filleul de Pétigny was the pen name of Claire Pauline Filleul, born in Nogent-le-Rotrou in northern France. Her parents were François Adrien Filleul, a lawyer, and his wife Pauline de Pétigny de Rivery, who came from a noble family in Picardie. She began writing at a young age. At age 18, after completing her schooling in Nogent, she began traveling through Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and Algeria, which provided the material for a collection of small illustrated books for children on her trips called La Mosaïque de la jeunesse, published 1838-1846. She also wrote poetry and novels. In Paris, she studied drawing, painting and lithography under Raymond Monvoisin and exhibited her first painting at the Paris Salon in 1842. When he was offered the position of director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Santiago, Chile, she accompanied him on his voyage to South America, where they made stays in Argentina, Peru and Brazil. In 1848, they arrived in Santiago, where over the next 10 years, she became a successful portrait painter. She returned to France in 1860, and exhibited her work in the Paris Salon that year. She continued to write travelogues and also worked as a translator.