Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Madame Le Brun, was a French

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

, especially of women, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

with elements of an adopted Neoclassical style. Her subject matter and color palette can be classified as Rococo, but her style is aligned with the emergence of Neoclassicism. Vigée Le Brun created a name for herself in

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

society by serving as the portrait painter to

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

. She enjoyed the patronage of European

aristocrats Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

, actors, and writers, and was elected to art academies in ten cities. Vigée Le Brun created 660 portraits and 200 landscapes. In addition to many works in private collections, her paintings are owned by major museums, such as the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Paris,

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

Florence,

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

Saint Petersburg,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in London,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York and many other collections in continental Europe and the United States. Between 1835 and 1837, when Vigée Le Brun was in her 80s, she published her memoirs in three volumes (''Souvenirs'').

Biography

Madame Vigee-Lebrun and her daughter, Jeanne Lucia (Julie)

Early life

Born in Paris on 16 April 1755, Élisabeth Louise Vigée was the daughter of Jeanne (; 1728–1800), a hairdresser from a peasant background, and Louis Vigée, a portraitist, pastellist and member of the

Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc was the guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776.Alfred Fierro (1996). ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris''. Paris: Robert Laffont. It was set up by the Provost of Paris in 1391, a ...

, from whom she received her first instruction. In 1760, at the age of five, she entered a convent, where she remained until 1766. Her father died when she was 12 years old. In 1768, her mother married a wealthy jeweller, Jacques-François Le Sèvre, and shortly after, the family moved to the

Rue Saint-Honoré The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is named after the collegial situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré. The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale bou ...

, close to the

Palais Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal R ...

. In her

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

, Vigée Le Brun directly stated her feelings about her step-father: "I hated this man; even more so since he made use of my father's personal possessions. He wore his clothes, just as they were, without altering them to fit his figure.” During this period, Élisabeth benefited from the advice of Gabriel François Doyen,

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...

, and

Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vern ...

, whose influence is evident in her portrait of her younger brother, playwright and poet Étienne Vigée. By the time she was in her early teens, Élisabeth was painting portraits professionally. After her studio was seized for her practicing without a license, she applied to the

, which unwittingly exhibited her works in their Salon. In 1774, she was made a member of the Académie. On 11 January 1776, she married Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, a painter and art dealer. Vigée Le Brun began exhibiting her work at their home in Paris, the Hôtel de Lubert, and the Salons she held here supplied her with many new and important contacts. Her husband's great-great-uncle was

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

, the first director of the French Academy under

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. On 12 February 1780, Vigée Le Brun gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise, whom she called Julie and nicknamed "Brunette". Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_-_Madame_Perregaux_-_WGA25078

Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_-_Madame_Perregaux_-_WGA25078

In 1781, she and her husband toured

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where seeing the works of the Flemish masters inspired her to try new techniques. Her ''Self-portrait with Straw Hat'' (1782) was a "free imitation" of

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

' '' Le Chapeau de Paille''. Dutch and Flemish influences have also been noted in ''The Comte d'Espagnac'' (1786) and ''Madame Perregaux'' (1789). In 1787, she caused a minor public scandal when her ''Self-portrait with Her Daughter Julie'' (1787) was exhibited at the Salon of 1787 showing her

smiling A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

and open-mouthed, which was in direct contravention of traditional painting conventions going back to antiquity. The court gossip-sheet ''

Mémoires secrets The ''Mémoires secrets pour servir à l'histoire de la République des Lettres en France depuis 1762 jusqu'à nos jours'' ("Secret Memoirs Serving as a History of the Republic of Letters in France from 1762 until Our Days") is an anonymous chronic ...

'' commented: "An affectation which artists, art-lovers and persons of taste have been united in condemning, and which finds no precedent among the Ancients, is that in smiling, adame Vigée LeBrunshows her teeth." In light of this and her other ''Self-portrait with Her Daughter Julie'' (1789),

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

dismissed Vigée Le Brun as narcissistic in ''

The Second Sex ''The Second Sex'' (french: Le Deuxième Sexe, link=no) is a 1949 book by the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women in the present society as well as throughout all of history ...

'' (1949): "Madame Vigée-Lebrun never wearied of putting her smiling maternity on her canvases.”

Marie Antoinette

As her career blossomed, Vigée Le Brun was granted patronage by

. She painted more than 30 portraits of the queen and her family, leading to the common perception that she was the official portraitist of Marie Antoinette. At the Salon of 1783, Vigée Le Brun exhibited ''Marie-Antoinette in a Muslin Dress'' (1783), sometimes called ''Marie-Antoinette en gaulle'', in which the queen chose to be shown in a simple, informal white cotton garment. The resulting scandal was prompted by both the informality of the attire and the queen's decision to be shown in that way. Vigée Le Brun's later '' Marie Antoinette and Her Children'' (1787) was evidently an attempt to improve the queen's image by making her more relatable to the public, in the hopes of countering the bad press and negative judgments that the queen had recently received. The portrait shows the queen at home in the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

, engaged in her official function as the mother of the king's children, but also suggests Marie Antoinette's uneasy identity as a foreign-born queen whose maternal role was her only true function under

Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...

. The child, Louis Joseph, on the right is pointing to an empty cradle, which signified her recent loss of a child, further emphasizing Marie Antoinette's role as a mother. %C3%89lisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e_Le_Brun

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture

On 31 May 1783, Vigée Le Brun was received as a member of the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

. She was one of only 15 women to be granted full membership in the Académie between 1648 and 1793. Her rival,

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (née Labille; 11 April 1749 – 24 April 1803), also known as Adélaïde Labille-Guiard des Vertus, was a French miniaturist and portrait painter. She was an advocate for women to receive the same opportunities as men ...

, was admitted on the same day. Vigée Le Brun was initially refused on the grounds that her husband was an art dealer, but eventually the Académie was overruled by an order from

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

because Marie Antoinette put considerable pressure on her husband on behalf of her portraitist. As her

reception piece In art, a reception piece is a work submitted by an artist to an academy for approval as part of the requirements for admission to membership. The piece is normally representative of the artist's work, and the organization's judgement of its skil ...

, Vigée Le Brun submitted an allegorical painting, ''Peace Bringing Back Abundance'' (''La Paix ramenant l'Abondance''), instead of a portrait. As a consequence, the Académie did not place her work within a standard category of painting—either

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

or portraiture. Vigée Le Brun's membership in the Académie dissolved after the French Revolution because female academicians were abolished.

Exile

In October 1789, after the arrest of the royal family during the French Revolution, Vigée Le Brun fled France with her young daughter, Julie. Her husband, who remained in Paris, claimed that Vigée Le Brun went to Italy "to instruct and improve herself", but she certainly feared for her own safety. In her 12-year absence from France, she lived and worked in Italy (1789–1792), Austria (1792–1795), Russia (1795–1801) and Germany (1801). Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_-_Lady_Hamilton_as_the_Persian_Sibyl

Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_-_Lady_Hamilton_as_the_Persian_Sibyl

Italy

While in Italy, Vigée Le Brun was elected to the Academy in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

(1789) and the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

in Rome (1790). In

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, she painted portraits of

Maria Carolina Maria Carolina Louise Josepha Johanna Antonia (13 August 1752 – 8 September 1814) was List of consorts of Naples, Queen of Naples and List of Sicilian consorts, Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. As ''de facto'' ruler ...

of Austria (sister of Marie Antoinette) and her eldest four living children: Maria Teresa,

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

Luisa Luisa (Italian and Spanish), Luísa (Portuguese) or Louise ( French) is a feminine given name; it is the feminine form of the given name Louis (Luis), the French form of the Frankish Chlodowig (German Ludwig), from the Germanic elements ''hlod' ...

and Maria Cristina. She later recalled that Luisa "was extremely ugly, and pulled such faces that I was most reluctant to finish her portrait." Vigée Le Brun also painted

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

portraits of the notorious

Emma Hamilton Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy me ...

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...

(1790) and as a Bacchante (1792). Lady Hamilton was similarly the model for Vigée Le Brun's ''Sibyl'' (1792), which was inspired by the painted

sibyl The sibyls (, singular ) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he described local traditi ...

s of

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...

. The painting represents the

Cumaean Sibyl The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The word ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess. There were many sibyls ...

, as indicated by the Greek inscription on the figure's scroll, which is taken from

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's fourth

Eclogue An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics. Overview The form of the word ''eclogue'' in contemporary English developed from Middle English , which came from Latin , wh ...

. The ''Sibyl'' was Vigée Le Brun's favorite work. It is mentioned in her

more than any other work. She displayed it while in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

(1792),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1792),

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

(1794) and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(1795); she also sent it to be shown at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

of 1798. It was perhaps her most successful painting, and had always garnered the most praise and attracted many viewers wherever it was displayed. Like her reception piece, ''Peace Bringing Back Abundance'', Vigée Le Brun regarded her ''Sibyl'' as a

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

, the most elevated category in the Académie's hierarchy.

Austria

While in Vienna, Vigée Le Brun was commissioned to paint Princess Maria Josefa Hermengilde von Esterhazy as Ariadne Princess Maria Josefa and its

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

Princess Karoline von Liechtenstein as Iris Princess Karoline. The portraits depict the Liechtenstein sisters-in-law in unornamented Roman-inspired garments that show the influence of

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

, and which may have been a reference to the virtuous republican Roman matron Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. While visiting Dresden on her way to Russia, Le Brun visited the famous Dresden gallery, writing that it was without doubt the most beautiful one in all of Europe. It was there that she saw Raphael's '' Madonna di San Sisto.'' She was completely enamored by the painting, and wrote;

Russia

In Russia, where she stayed from 1795 until 1801, she was well-received by the nobility and painted numerous aristocrats, including the former king of Poland,

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch ...

, and members of the family of

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

. Le Brun painted Catherine's granddaughters (daughters of

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

Elena Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...

and Alexandra Pavlovna, in Grecian tunics with exposed arms. To this end, the Empress' favourite,

Platon Zubov Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (russian: Платон Александрович Зубов; ) was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in the Russian Empire during the last years of her reign. Life The princ ...

, commented to Le Brun that the painting had scandalized the empress due to the amount of bare skin the short sleeves revealed. Le Brun was greatly worried by this and considered it a hurtful remark and replaced the tunics with the Muslin dresses the princesses wore, and added long sleeves (called Amadis in Russia). Le Brun would later be reassured in a conversation with Catherine that she made no such remark, but by then the damage had already been done. When

later became emperor, he expressed being upset with the alterations Le Brun made to the painting. When Le Brun told him what Zubov told her, he shrugged and said "They played a joke on you". Catherine herself also agreed to sit for Le Brun, but she died on the very next day, which was when she had promised to sit for Le Brun. While in Russia, Vigée Le Brun was made a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Petersburg. Much to Vigée Le Brun's dismay, her daughter Julie married Gaétan Bernard Nigris, secretary to the Director of the Imperial Theaters of Saint Petersburg. Julie predeceased her mother in 1819. Le Brun painted many other people during her stay in Russia, including the emperor Paul and his consort. Marie_Louise_Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_001

Marie_Louise_Elisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun_001

Return to France and later life

After a sustained campaign by her ex-husband and other family members to have her name removed from the list of counter-revolutionary émigrés, Vigée Le Brun was finally able to return to France in January 1802. She travelled to London in 1803, to Switzerland in 1807, and to Switzerland again in 1808. In Geneva, she was made an honorary member of the Société pour l'Avancement des Beaux-Arts. She stayed at

Coppet Coppet is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Coppet is first mentioned in 1294 as ''Copetum''. In 1347 it was mentioned as ''Copet''. Geography Coppet has an area (), of . Of this area, ...

with

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

, who she painted as ''Corinne, ou l'Italie'' (1807). In her later years, Vigée Le Brun purchased a house in

Louveciennes Louveciennes () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, between Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and adjacent to Marly-le-Roi. Population ...

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

and divided her time between Louveciennes and Paris. She died in Paris on 30 March 1842, aged 86. She was buried at the Cimetière de Louveciennes near her old home. Her tombstone

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

says "''Ici, enfin, je repose...''" (Here, at last, I rest...).

Exhibitions

During her lifetime, Vigée Le Brun's work was publicly exhibited in Paris at the

(1774), Salon de la Correspondance (1779, 1781, 1782, 1783) and Salon of the Académie in Paris (1783, 1785, 1787, 1789, 1791, 1798, 1802, 1817, 1824). The first

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

exhibition of Vigée Le Brun's work was held in 1982 at the

Kimbell Art Museum The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, wh ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. The first major international retrospective exhibition of her art premiered at the

Galeries nationales du Grand Palais The galeries nationales du Grand Palais (Grand Palais National Galleries) are museum spaces located in the Grand Palais in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. They serve as home to major art exhibits and cultural events programmed by the Réunion ...

in Paris (2015—2016) and was subsequently shown at the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(2016) and the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

(2016).

Portrayal in popular culture

The 2014 docudrama made for French television, ''Le fabuleux destin d’Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun,'' directed by Arnaud Xainte'','' is available in English as ''The Fabulous Life of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun.'' In the episode "The Portrait" from the BBC series ''

Let Them Eat Cake "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "'", said to have been spoken in the 17th or 18th century by "a great princess" upon being told that the peasants had no bread. The French phrase mentions brioche, a bread e ...

'' (1999) written by Peter Learmouth, starring

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

and

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...

, Madame Vigée Le Brun (

Maggie Steed Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...

) paints a portrait of the Comtesse de Vache (Jennifer Saunders) weeping over a dead canary. Vigée Le Brun is one of only three characters in Joel Gross's ''Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh'' (premiered in 2007), a fictionalized historical drama about a love triangle set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Vigée Le Brun's portrait of Marie Antoinette is featured on the cover of the 2010 album ''

Nobody's Daughter ''Nobody's Daughter'' is the fourth and final studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 23, 2010, by Mercury Records. The album was initially conceived as a solo project and follow-up to the Hole frontwoman Courtn ...

'' by

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun is a dateable

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

in the historically-based dating sim

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

''Ambition: A Minuet in Power'' published by Joy Manufacturing Co. Singer-songwriter Kelly Chase released the song "Portrait of a Queen" in 2021 to accompany the History Detective Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3 Marie Antionette's Portrait Artist: Vigée Le Brun.

Gallery

Portraits painted in France

File:Portrait Of The Artists Brother by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.jpg, ''Étienne Vigée'', 1773.

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mi ...

. File:Vigée-Lebrun Marie Antoinette 1783.jpg, ''

Marie Antoinette with a Rose ''Marie Antoinette with a Rose'', also known as ''Marie-Antoinette with the Rose'' (french: Marie-Antoinette dit « à la Rose ») is an oil painting by the French artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. It was painted in 1783, and is in the collec ...

'', 1783.

. File:Madame Grand (Noël Catherine Vorlée, 1761–1835) MET DP320094.jpg, '' Madame Grand'', 1783.

. File:Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun - Portrait of Marie Gabrielle de Gramont, Duchesse de Caderousse - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Marie-Gabrielle de Gramont, Duchesse de Caderousse'', 1784.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

. File:Vigée-Lebrun, Elisabeth-Louise - Charles-Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802) - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Charles-Alexandre de Calonne'', 1784.

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. File:Vigée Le Brun Baronne de Crussol (RO 307).jpg, ''Baronne de Crussol'', 1785.

Musée des Augustins The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse is a fine arts museum in Toulouse, France which conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures represe ...

. File:Elizabeth Vigee Lebrun - Portrait of Mohammed Dervish Khan 366N10007 B3Y2Q.jpg, ''Muhammad Dervish Khan'', 1788. Private collection. File:Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848) MET DP320086.jpg, ''Comtesse de La Châtre'', 1789.

. File:Self-portrait with Her Daughter by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun.jpg, ''Self-portrait with Her Daughter'', 1789.

Portraits painted in Italy

File:Lebrun, Self-portrait.jpg, Self-portrait, painting Marie Antoinette, 1790.

. File:Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun - Lady Hamilton as Ariadne.jpg, Emma, Lady Hamilton as Ariadne, 1790.

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. File:Ritratto dell'infante Francesco di Borbone.jpg, ''Francesco di Borbone'', 1790.

Museo di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...

. File:Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa di Borbone-Due Sicilie V2.jpg, ''Luisa Maria Amelia di Borbone'', 1790.

. File:Maria Cristina by Élisabeth Vigée.jpg, '' Maria Cristina of Bourbon'', 1790.

. File:Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun - Portrait of Anna Pitt as Hebe - WGA25079.jpg, '' Anne Pitt as Hebe'', 1792.

. File:LadyHamilton.jpg, Emma Hamilton as a Bacchante, 1792.

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...

Portraits painted in Austria

File:Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun - Portrait de la comtesse Maria Theresia Bucquoi.jpg, ''La comtesse Maria Theresia Bucquoi'', 1793.

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

. File:Theresa, Countess Kinsky by Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun.jpg, ''Theresa, Countess Kinsky'', 1793.

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Sim ...

. File:Portrait of Princess Karoline of Liechtenstein (1793) LeBrun.jpg, ''Princess Karoline of Liechtenstein'', 1793.

Liechtenstein Museum The Liechtenstein Museum is a private art museum in Vienna, Austria. It contains much of the art collection of its owners, the House of Liechtenstein, Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of the principality of Liechtenstein. It includes import ...

. File:Countess Siemontkowsky Bystry by Vigee le Brun.jpg, ''Countess Siemontkowsky-Bystry'', 1793. Private collection. File:Lebrun Pelagie Sapiezyna.jpg, ''Pélagie Sapieżyna-Potocka'', 1794.

Royal Castle, Warsaw The Royal Castle in Warsaw ( pl, Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a state museum and a national historical monument, which formerly served as the official royal residence of several Polish monarchs. The personal offices of the king and the adm ...

Portraits painted in Russia

File:Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. The portrait of princess Ekaterina Nikolaevna Menshikova.jpg, ''Princess Ekaterina Nikolaevna Menshikova'', 1795.

National Gallery of Armenia The National Gallery of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի ազգային պատկերասրահ, ''Hayastani azgayin patkerasrah'') is the largest art museum in Armenia. Located on Yerevan's Republic Square, the museum has one of the most prominent ...

. File:Anna tolstoy Vigée-Lebrun.jpg, Anna Ivanovna Baryatinskaya Tolstoy, 1796.

. File:Ekaterina Dolgorukaya (Baryatinsky).jpg, ''

Ekaterina Feodorovna Baryatinskaya-Dolgorukova Ekaterina Feodorovna Baryatinskaya-Dolgorukova (29 October 1769 – 30 October 1849) was a Russian court official. Life She was the only child of marshal Feodor Baryatinsky (1742-1814) and his wife princess Maria Vasilevna Chovanskaya (died 1813) ...

'', 1796. Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art. File:Anna Alexandrovna Galitzin, nee Gruzinsky.jpg, Princess Ana Gruzinsky Galitzine, 1797.

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

. File:Maria Razumovskaya by Vigée-Lebrun.jpg, alt=Maria Grigorievna Razumovskaya, Princess Golitsyna, 1797. ( Maria Razumovskaya) File:The Barber Institute of Fine Arts - Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun - Portrait of Countess Golovina.jpg, '' Varvara Golovina'', 1797–1800. Barber Institute of Fine Arts. File:Anna Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya by Vigée-Lebrun.jpg, ''Anna Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya'', 1798.

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

. File:Vigee-Lebrun–Julie-Lebrun-as-Flora.jpg, ''Julie Le Brun as Flora'', 1799.

Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, Florida) History The MFA was founded by art collector and philanthropist Margaret Acheson Stuart (1896–1980). The Margaret Acheson Stuart Society, the Museum's independent support organization, is named in her honor. The city provided the four-a ...

References

External links

''The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun'' at Project Gutenberg

Neil Jeffares, ''Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800'', Online Edition

Art UK: Works of art by Vigée Le Brun in British Collections

* ttp://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/vigee-le-brun ''Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France'' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art*
Katherine Baetjer: "Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France."
''Modern Arts Notes Podcast'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigee Le Brun, Elisabeth Louise 1755 births 1842 deaths 18th-century French painters 18th-century French women artists 19th-century French painters 19th-century French women artists Painters from Paris French memoirists French neoclassical painters French portrait painters French women painters French women writers Rococo painters French women memoirists Elisabeth Elisabeth Pastel artists 18th-century letter writers 19th-century letter writers 18th-century memoirists