In 1791 artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist set out to defy expectations, to prove to all of Paris that a woman could indeed “compose history paintings.” Exhibiting Psyche Bidding Her Family Farewell at that year’s Salon, the official exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, she became the first woman to show a history painting that is, a scene from literature, mythology, history, or the Bible in the great exhibition, marking the recognition of artists among their peers. La Béquille de .