The life and work of Eugénie Servières, who was active mainly during the First French Empire and the Bourbon Restoration, remain largely overlooked. Guillaume Guillon Lethière (1760–1832) oversaw her training and introduced her to the artistic and political circles that would help her secure private and public commissions.

Her mother, Marie Josèphe Honorée Vanzenne, married Lethière in December 1799 after the death in 1792 of Pierre Charen, her first husband and Eugénie’s father. G. Guillon Lethière thus became the girl’s adoptive father and enrolled her in his art classes. In 1806, aged twenty, she submitted her first painting to the Paris Salon, having signed it ‘Eugénie Lethiers, her father’s student’. In 1807 she married Joseph Servières, an author of plays, vaudeville and melodramas, who would go on to become an administrative advisor in the Court of Auditors.

The couple then moved to Rome with G. Guillon Lethière, who had been appointed director of the Académie de France à Rome that same year. They received support from various figures in his circle: Lucien Bonaparte purchased two paintings from E. Servières for his collection, and her husband served as his secretary for a time. G. Guillon Lethière mentioned that he referenced life sketches made by E. Servières when he painted the portrait of Élisa Bonaparte commissioned by the emperor in 1806 (now at the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon). Dominique Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was godfather to the couple’s first child, while Countess Mollien, wife of the Minister of the Treasury and a fellow former student of G. Guillon Lethière, was godmother.

E. Servières regularly submitted works to the Paris Salon until 1833, but only around twenty, all of them portraits or history scenes, were ever exhibited. In 1822 Inès de Castro with Her Children at the Feet of King Afonso IV, Seeking Clemency for Don Pedro received enthusiastic reviews; it was acquired in 1825 for the household of King Charles X of France. This painting exemplifies her inspirations, which in turn reflected the general shift from history painting towards anecdotal and sentimental subjects, and demonstrates her talent for theatrical composition, a porcelain-like finish and understated colours. Another work she exhibited at the same Paris Salon, Valentina of Milan, was purchased by the Duchess of Berry. E. Servières focused on themes from medieval and Romantic literature, as well as episodes from monarchical history, and worked in the troubadour style. Explanations of the scenes depicted would appear in the Paris Salon’s booklets.

She kept a studio at the Institut, located above her adoptive father’s residence, and taught female students there. She continued to use this space at least until G. Guillon Lethière’s death. Few traces of her activities after the mid-1830s have been found to date.