Background
Darmesteter was born in London as the daughter of a French school teacher and the editor of the first Jewish women's periodical, Marion Hartog Moss.
Darmesteter was born in London as the daughter of a French school teacher and the editor of the first Jewish women's periodical, Marion Hartog Moss.
She later studied painting in Paris under Gustave Courtois, where she met her husband Arsène Darmesteter.
Her parents ran a French boarding school where Héléna learned to speak French. She became a successful portrait painter, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1891 and 1894 and at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. She also showed works at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions in 1907 and 1908.
Her self-portrait and a study of a woman before a mirror were included in the 1905 book Women Painters of the World.
She was a member of the Société des Artistes Français and of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.