Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (also spelled Vigée-Lebrun; ; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Madame Le Brun, was a prominent French portrait painter of the late 18th century. Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of Rococo with elements of an adopted Neoclassical style.
In 1760, at the age of five, she entered a convent, where she remained until 1766.
In 1760, at the age of five, she entered a convent, where she remained until 1766.
In 1768, her mother married a wealthy jeweller, Jacques-François Le Sèvre, and shortly after, the family moved to the Rue Saint-Honoré, close to the Palais Royal.
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 painted portraits of many of the nobility. On 12 February 1780, Vigée-Le Brun gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise, whom she called Julie and nicknamed "Brunette." In 1781 she and her husband toured Flanders and the Netherlands, where seeing the works of the Flemish masters inspired her to try new techniques.
Vigée Le Brun painted portraits of many of the nobility. On 12 February 1780, Vigée-Le Brun gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise, whom she called Julie and nicknamed "Brunette." In 1781 she and her husband toured Flanders and the Netherlands, where seeing the works of the Flemish masters inspired her to try new techniques.
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 child 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. ===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.
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 and open-mouthed, which was in direct contravention of traditional painting conventions going back to antiquity.
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.
She was one of only 15 women to be granted full membership in the Académie between 1648 and 1793.
The portraits depict the Liechtenstein sisters-in-law in unornamented Roman-inspired garments that show the influence of Neoclassicism, and which may have been a reference to the virtuous republican Roman matron Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. ====Russia==== In Russia, where she stayed from 1795 until 1801, she was received by the nobility and painted numerous aristocrats, including the former king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, and members of the family of Catherine the Great.
She displayed it while in Venice (1792), Vienna (1792), Dresden (1794), and Saint Petersburg (1795); she also sent it to be shown at the Salon of 1798.
The portraits depict the Liechtenstein sisters-in-law in unornamented Roman-inspired garments that show the influence of Neoclassicism, and which may have been a reference to the virtuous republican Roman matron Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. ====Russia==== In Russia, where she stayed from 1795 until 1801, she was received by the nobility and painted numerous aristocrats, including the former king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, and members of the family of Catherine the Great.
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. ===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.
She travelled to London in 1803, to Switzerland in 1807, and to Switzerland again in 1808.
She travelled to London in 1803, to Switzerland in 1807, and to Switzerland again in 1808.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (also spelled Vigée-Lebrun; ; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Madame Le Brun, was a prominent French portrait painter of the late 18th century. Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of Rococo with elements of an adopted Neoclassical style.
She died in Paris on 30 March 1842, aged 86.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05