Esther Huillard (Jeanne Marie Irène Esther Girard) is a French painter and pastellist, active between the 1880s and the 1920s. Esther was born on 26 January 1855 in Sedan into the GIRARD family with Belgian origins. Her full birth name was Jeanne Marie Irène Esther GIRARD. She received an early artistic education and later studied in Paris, where she was a pupil of Jules MACHARD and Alfred ROLL at the École des Beaux-Arts. This training played a decisive role in shaping her artistic practice and visual language. HUILLARD worked in pastel and oil on canvas and produced portraits, mythological compositions, and works in various genres. Her academic formation resulted in a precise and controlled painterly manner, characterised by careful modelling through light and shadow, attention to realistic anatomy, and a composition aligned with Salon traditions. From an early stage, she worked within the idioms of late Academicism and Salon realism, while certain mythological subjects reveal elements of early Symbolism. In 1874, she married the journalist Charles Paul HUILLARD and adopted his surname. In 1876, they had a son, Lucien Léon Maurice HUILLARD. Despite her family responsibilities, she pursued an ambitious artistic career. In the autumn of 1892, she travelled to Stowe House, the residence of the exiled Count of Paris, to paint a full-length portrait of Hélène D’ORLEANS. It appears that this commission was facilitated through her husband’s connections, notably via Arthur MEYER, editor of Le Gaulois, who was closely associated with the Orléanist circle. HUILLARD actively advocated for women’s professional recognition in the arts and was a member of the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1888 to 1924. She served as president of the Union from 1904 to 1906. In 1897, she exhibited her works at the Salon de la Convalescence with notable success, and in 1899 she was appointed Officier de l’Instruction publique (Officer of public education). In 1902, she joined the Groupe des XII at the Bodinière, presenting imaginative figurative compositions with discreet Symbolist overtones. At the Salon of 1906, she exhibited a portrait of the Marquise de TERRIER-SANDALS, and in 1921 she presented a pastel portrait of Alice LACROZE. HUILLARD’s works were primarily executed in pastel and are characterised by a soft, velvety painterly surface, subtle tonal transitions, and a refined handling of colour. Her portraits demonstrate a psychological sensitivity to the sitter’s emotional expression, combining technical precision with a delicate and intimate visual language. Her Parisian studio was located on Rue Eugène-Flachat, and she later moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine. Esther HUILLARD died in Paris on 1 July 1928 at the age of seventy-three. She was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.