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Ada Labriola (ed.), Fra Angelico in Pontassieve, Mandragora, Florence 2010. ISBN 9788874611492 |
Strehlke, Carl Brandon (1994). In Laurence B. Kanter and Barbara Drake Boehm. Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300–1450. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 349–50 |
External links |
National Gallery: Zanobi, Strozzi |
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French: [elizabɛt lwiz viʒe lə bʁœ̃]; née Vigée; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply as Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. |
Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of Rococo 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 society by ... |
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 in Paris, Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, National Gallery in London, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and many other collections in Europe ... |
Biography |
Early life |
Born in Paris on 16 April 1755, Élisabeth Louise Vigée was the daughter of Jeanne (née Maisin; 1728–1800), a hairdresser from a peasant background, and Louis Vigée (1715–1767), a portraitist, pastellist and member of the Académie de Saint-Luc, who mostly specialized in painting with oils. Élisabeth exhibited artistic i... |
In her memoir, Vigée Le Brun directly stated her feelings about her stepfather: "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 Fran... |
After her father's death, her mother sought to raise her spirits by taking her to the Palais de Luxembourg's art gallery; seeing the works of Peter Paul Rubens and other old masters left a great impression on her. She also visited numerous private galleries, including those of Rendon de Boisset, the Duc de Praslin[fr],... |
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun", although she acknowledged later in life that the correct baptismal order would be Élisabeth Louise. |
By the time she was in her early teens, Élisabeth was painting portraits professionally. She greatly disliked the contemporary High Rococo fashion, and often solicited her sitters to allow her to alter their apparel. Inspired by Raphael and Domenichino, she often draped her subjects in shawls and long scarves; these st... |
After her stepfather retired from his business, he moved his family to the Hôtel de Lubert in Paris where she met Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, a painter, art dealer and relation of the painter Charles Le Brun, on the Rue de Cléry where they lodged. Élisabeth visited M. Le Brun's apartments frequently to view his priva... |
During the two weeks after the wedding had taken place in secret, the artist was visited by a stream of people giving her ominous news regarding her husband, these people believing that she had still not agreed to his proposal. These visitors started with the court jeweller, followed by the Duchesse de Arenberg and Mme... |
Her husband's great-great-uncle was Charles Le Brun, the first director of the French Academy under Louis XIV. Her husband appropriated most of her income and pressed her to also take on the role of a private tutor to increase his income from her. The artist found tutoring to be frustrating due to her inability to asse... |
Daughter Julie |
After two years of marriage, Vigée Le Brun became pregnant, and on 12 February 1780, she gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise, whom she called Julie and nicknamed "Brunette". In 1784, she gave birth to a second child who died in infancy. |
In 1781, she and her husband toured Flanders, Brussels and the Netherlands, where seeing the works of the Flemish masters inspired her to try new techniques. Her Self-portrait in a Straw Hat (1782) was a "free imitation" of Rubens's Le Chapeau de Paille. Dutch and Flemish influences have also been noted in The Comte d'... |
In yet another of the series of scandals that marked her early career, her 1785 portrait of Louis XVI's minister of finance, M. de Calonne, was the target of a public scandal after it was exhibited in the Salon of 1785. Rumors circulated that the minister had paid the artist a very large sum of money, while other rumor... |
In 1787, she caused a minor public scandal when her Self-portrait with her Daughter Julie was exhibited at that year's Salon showing her smiling and open-mouthed, which was in direct contravention of traditional painting conventions going back to antiquity. The court gossip-sheet Mémoires secrets commented: "An affecta... |
In 1788, Vigée Le Brun was impressed with the faces of the Mysorean ambassadors of Tipu-Sultan, and solicited their approval to take their portraits. The ambassador responded by saying he would only agree if the request came from the King, which Vigée Le Brun procured, and she proceeded to paint the portrait of Dervish... |
Marie Antoinette |
As her career blossomed, Vigée Le Brun was granted patronage by Marie Antoinette. 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 (... |
Marie Antoinette and her Children 1787 |
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 Marie Antoinette had recently received. The portrait shows the Queen at home in the Palace... |
Later on, during the First Empire, she painted a posthumous portrait of the Queen ascending to heaven with two angels, alluding to the two children she had lost, and Louis XVI seated on two clouds. This painting was titled The Apotheosis of the Queen. It was displayed in the chapel of the Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse, rue ... |
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. She was one of only 15 women to be granted full membership in the Académie between 1648 and 1793. Her rival, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, was admitted on the same day. Vigée Le Brun was initially refused on the ground... |
Flight from France |
Vigée Le Brun witnessed many of the events that accelerated the already rapid deterioration of the Ancien Régime. While travelling to Romainville to visit the Maréchal de Ségur in July 1788, the artist experienced the massive hailstorm that swept the country, and observed the resultant devastation of crops. As the turm... |
Society seemed to be in a state of complete chaos, and honest people were left to fend for themselves, for the National Guard was made up of a strange crew, a mixture of bizarre and even frightening types. Everyone seemed to be suffering from fear; I grieved for the pregnant women who passed; the faces of most of them ... |
As the situation in Paris and France continued to deteriorate with the rising tide of the revolution, the artist decided to leave Paris, and obtained passports for herself, her daughter and their governess. The very next day a large band of national guards entered her house and ordered her not to leave or else face pun... |
Italy |
The artist arrived in Turin after crossing the Savoyard alps. In Turin she met the famous engraver Porporati, who was now a professor in the city's academy. Porporati and his daughter received the artist for five or six days until she resumed her journey southwards to Parma, where she met the Comte de Flavigny[fr] (the... |
She first arrived in Modena, where she visited the local Palazzo, and saw several old master paintings by Raphael, Romano and Titian. She also visited the library and the theater there. From Modena, she departed for Bologna. The journey over the mountains was tortuous enough that she walked part of the way, and arrived... |
She visited the church of Sant'Agnese, of which she wrote: I went immediately to the church of Sant'Agnese, where this saint's martyrdom is represented in a painting by Domenichino. The youth and innocence of Saint Agnes is so well captured on her beautiful face and the features of the torturer striking her with his sw... |
As I knelt before the masterpiece, someone played the overture to Iphigenia on the organ. The involuntary link that I made between the young pagan victim of that story and the young Christian victim, the memory of the peaceful, happy time when I had last listened to that piece of music, and the sad thought of all the e... |
Soon after, she crossed the Apennines and arrived in the Tuscan countryside, and from there to Florence. The artist was initially disappointed with its position at the bottom of a wide valley, having preference for elevated views, but was soon charmed by the city's beauty. She lodged herself in a hotel recommended to h... |
While in Florence, she visited the famous Medici gallery, where she saw the widely-celebrated and famous Venus de' Medici and the room of the Niobids. She then visited the Pitti palace where she was enamored of several paintings by old masters, including Raphael's Madonna della Sedia, Titian's portrait of Paul III, Rem... |
As she arrived in Rome, she was surprised by how filthy the famous Tiber was. She headed to the French Academy in the Via del Corso where the director of the academy, M. de Ménageot, went down to receive her. She requested lodging of him, and he quickly furnished her, her daughter and her governess a nearby apartment. ... |
She climbed the Sistine chapel later on to see Raphael's much criticized The Last Supper, for which she expressed great praise, writing in a letter to the painter Robert: I also climbed the steps to the Sistine chapel, to admire the dome with a fresco by Michelangelo as well as his painting of The Last Supper. Despite... |
Vigée Le Brun was very sensitive to sound while sleeping; this was a lifetime burden for her, and when traveling to new locations or cities, frequent moving of lodgings was customary until she found a suitably quiet residence. Due to the racket of coachmen and horses near her apartment in the French Academy and the nig... |
Soon after her arrival in Rome, she dispatched the promised self-portrait to Florence. In this portrait, she depicted herself in the act of painting, with the Queen's face on her canvas. She made numerous copies of this portrait later on. The Rome Academy also requested her self-portrait, which she presented them with.... |
She worked hard during her three-year residency in Rome, painting numerous subjects including Miss Pitt, Lord Bristol, Countess Potocka, Lady Hamilton, Mme. Roland and many others. She toured Rome's landmarks extensively, visiting the San Pietro in Vincoli, the San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, the St. John Lateran, and the S... |
Apart from her fellow female artist Kaufmann, Vigée Le Brun found company in the Duchesse de Fleury, with whom she became close friends. She also found herself in the social circles of exiled French aristocracy who came to Rome, embedding herself there like most exiled French had done, instead of congregating with Ital... |
After a residency of eight months in Rome, the painter planned to follow most of French polite society as it moved to Naples. She informed Cardinal Bernis, who approved of her decision to go, but told her to not travel alone; to that end, he referred her to M. Duvivier, the husband of Mme. Mignot, widow of the painter ... |
She initially lodged in Chiaia, in the Hotel de Maroc. Her neighbor, the ailing Count Scavronsky, Russian Minister Plenipotentiary to Naples, sent a missive to inquire of her shortly after her arrival, and sent her a lavish dinner. She visited him and his wife, Countess Catherine Skavronskaïa, the same night in their m... |
She visited the French ambassador to Naples, the Baron de Talleyrand, and while being hosted by him she met Mme. Silva, a Portuguese woman. Vigée Le Brun then decided to visit the island of Capri to see the palatial Roman ruins there. Her entourage included Mme. Silva, the Comte de la Roche-Aymon[fr] and the young son ... |
Of her visit to Mt. Vesuvius, she wrote in a letter to the architect Brongniart: We also went up to the mountain refuge. The sun set and we watched its rays disappear behind the islands of Ischia and Procida: what a view! Eventually night fell, and the smoke turned into flames, the most magnificent I have ever seen in ... |
The party departed from Procida on the same way, bound for Ischia. They arrived there in the late evening. On the next day, they were taken by General Baron de Salis with a party of twenty to visit the summit of Monte San Nicola. The journey was perilous, and Vigée Le Brun was separated from the party due to dense fog,... |
She returned to Rome afterwards, just in time to find the Queen of Naples arriving from her visit to Austria. The Queen espied the artist in a large crowd, went to her and impressed her to return to Naples to paint her portrait; Le Brun agreed to the prospect. Upon her return to Naples, she was taken by Sir William to ... |
Upon finishing her portrait of the Queen, she was offered her summerhouse near the coast to entice her to spend more time in Naples, but Le Brun insisted on leaving. Before departing, the Queen gave her a luxurious lacquered box containing her monogram surrounded by fine gems. She returned to Rome once again, undertaki... |
Upon her arrival in Florence, she had a memorable meeting with the Abbé Fontana, then a renowned anatomist. Fontana showed Le Brun his study, filled with wax figures of human organs. The intricacy of the details on some of the replicas had made the artist feel that only divine power could have created the human body. F... |
After departing Florence she travelled to Siena where she remained for a few days, excursing frequently in its countryside and visiting local churches and galleries. From Siena she left for Parma, where she was welcomed as a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Parma, and donated a portrait of her daughter. During her... |
She arrived in Venice on the eve of Ascension day. She was surprised by the city's partially submerged aspect, and it was some time before she became accustomed to the modes of transportation in the city's canals. She was received by M. Denon, a fellow artist whom she knew from Paris, who acted as her cicerone, touring... |
While in Venice, she visited the churches of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the Church of Saint Mark and the square there, and the local cemetery. While residing in Venice, she often engaged the company of the Spanish ambassadress, with whom she attended Paccherotti's last concert. She soon departed Venice for Milan, stopping... |
In Turin she referred herself to the Queen of Sardinia, having been given letters of introduction by her aunts, the Mesdames of France whom she had painted in Rome; requesting the artist to paint their niece on her way to France. When she presented this to the bereaved Queen, she politely refused the request, stating t... |
After meeting the Queen of Sardinia, Le Brun visited Madame, the wife of the Comte de Provence, future king Louis XVIII (future queen of France in-exile). She excursed frequently to the countryside with her and her lady in waiting, Mme. de Gourbillon. She soon met the engraver Porporati again, who recommended her to lo... |
During her stay in Venice she lost yet another fortune, amounting to 35,000 francs, most of which she had accumulated from her commissions in Italy - which she had deposited in the bank of Venice, when French troops, campaigning under the command of the rising general Napoleon Buonaparte, captured the city shortly afte... |
Halfway through her journey to Milan, she was detained for two days due to her nationality. She sent a letter to Count Wilsheck, the Austrian embassador in the town, who secured her release. The count convinced Vigée Le Brun to travel to Vienna, and she decided to go there after her visit to Milan. The artist received ... |
She later visited Lake Maggiore and resided on one of the two islands in the lake, the Isola Bella, being granted permission by the Prince Borromeo to lodge on the estate there. She soon attempted to visit the other isle, Isola Madre, but stormy weather affected her journey and she returned. It was during this period t... |
While in Italy, Vigée Le Brun was elected to the Academy in Parma (1789) and the Accademia di San Luca in Rome (1790). Vigée Le Brun also painted allegorical portraits of Emma Hamilton as Ariadne (1790) and as a Bacchante (1792). Lady Hamilton was similarly the model for Vigée Le Brun's Sibyl (1792), which was inspired... |
Austria |
As well as the Countess Bistri and her husband she travelled to Vienna with two other French refugees of poorer origin whom they had taken on. The artist found their company priceless and lodged herself with them in Vienna, with some difficulty in procuring residence due to the travelling party's composition. This woul... |
After meeting Casanova, she presented herself to the aging Prince Kaunitz, at his palace. She found dinners hosted by the prince to be uncomfortable due to the late time in which he dined and the large number of people often present at his table, and subsequently decided to dine at home most days. On days when she woul... |
While in Vienna, Vigée Le Brun was commissioned to paint Princess Maria Josepha Hermengilde Esterházy as Ariadne and Princess Karoline von Liechtenstein as Iris among many others, the latter portrait causing a minor scandal among the Princess's relatives. The portraits depict the Liechtenstein sisters-in-law in unornam... |
Suffice to say I came to the conclusion that Raphael is the greatest master of them all. I had just visited several rooms within the gallery when I found myself standing in front of a painting which aroused in me an admiration far more intense than that normally inspired by the art of painting. It showed the Virgin, si... |
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, whom she became well acquainted with, and other members of the family of Catherine the Great. Vigée Le Brun painted Catherine's gra... |
Vigée Le Brun painted many other people during her stay in Russia, including the emperor Paul and his consort. |
Catherine herself also agreed to sit for Vigée Le Brun, but she died the very next day, which was when she had promised to sit for the artist. While in Russia, Vigée Le Brun was made a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Petersburg. Much to her dismay, her daughter Julie married Gaétan Bernard Nigris, secretary... |
As for myself, all the charm of my life seemed to have disappeared forever. I could not find the same pleasure in loving my daughter, and yet God knows how much I still love her, despite her faults. Only mothers will understand me when I say this. Shortly after her marriage she caught smallpox. Although I had never had... |
Before departing for France, Vigée Le Brun decided to visit Moscow. Halfway through her journey to the city, news of the assassination of Paul I reached her. The journey was extremely difficult due to the melting snow, and the carriage often got stuck in the infamous Russian mud, and her journey was further delayed whe... |
It was in Russia that Vigée Le Brun formed several of her longest lasting and most intimate friendships, with the Princesses Dolgoruky and Kourakin, and the Count Stroganoff. |
Prussia |
After her departure from Saint Petersburg, Vigée Le Brun travelled – with some difficulty – through Prussia, visiting Berlin after an exhausting journey. The Queen of Prussia invited Vigée Le Brun to Potsdam to meet her; the Queen then commissioned a portrait of herself. The Queen invited the artist to reside in the Po... |
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