Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot was one of the few women artists who had a true career in the first half of the 19th century. Having lost her father at an early age, Hortense Viel decided in adulthood to take the name of her stepfather, Jean-Louis Lescot. She showed precocious talent for dance and painting, and while still a child – as young as seven or ten, according to various contemporary accounts – began studying under history painter Guillaume Guillon Lethière (1760–1832). In 1807 she followed him to Rome with some family friends: having become director of the Académie de France in Rome, G. Guillon Lethière allowed her to complete her training at this school, which would notably give her the opportunity to sketch antiquities. Holding H. Lescot’s talent in high regard, the master took her under his wing; she received his protection and counsel and benefitted from his connections. He introduced her to many prominent artists, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) and Antonio Canova (1757–1822). This long sojourn in Italy (1807−1816), rare in the training of an artist who, as a woman, was barred from competing for the Prix de Rome, proved decisive. H. Lescot showed her work at the Capitoline in Rome and in 1810 was granted membership in the Academia di San Luca. In the same year, she made her debut at the Paris Salon with eight genre scenes depicting life in Italy. Her 1812 submission, Le Baisement des pieds de la statue de saint Pierre dans la basilique Saint-Pierre deRome (Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau), acquired by Louis XVIII, proved she had become an accomplished artist with widely recognised talents.

On her return to France at the start of the Bourbon Restoration, her career gained new momentum: she was appointed personal painter to the Duchess of Berry and exhibited continuously at the Paris Salon, where her Italian subjects − Madonnas, pifferari (street musicians) and peasants in brightly coloured regional costumes − met with much acclaim. She opened a studio where high-society women painted for pleasure, but additionally trained professional women artists such as Julie-Agathe Fabre d’Olivet (1806–1871) and Atala Varcollier Stamaty (1803–1885). In 1820 she married architect Louis-Pierre Haudebourt (1788–1849) and would henceforth sign all her paintings ‘Haudebourt Lescot’. She also hosted a celebrated salon that drew leading figures from the art world, some of them quite influential, enhancing both her reputation and her social standing. During the July Monarchy, she received commissions from Louis Philippe I for a series of eight portraits (1835) and two history paintings (1837 and 1838). Over the course of her career, she exhibited over one hundred works at the Paris Salon, her favourite subjects being genre, picturesque and sentimental scenes. She was furthermore an excellent portraitist. Her 1825 self-portrait, one of her best-known paintings (Musée du Louvre), shows her at work; depicting her as pensive and intellectual, dressed with austere simplicity, it departs from the alluring or fashionable conventions of formal portraiture.

Obituaries published upon her death underscored her prominent role in the artistic arena of her time. Some also mentioned the innovative nature of her Italian picturesque scenes, precursors to those that would later seal the fame of Jean-Victor Schnetz (1787–1870) and Léopold Robert (1794–1835).