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Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Bacchante, 1785

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Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun (French, 1755-1842), Bacchante, 1785, Oil on panel, 109 x 78 cm Museum Nissim de Comondo

Let them eat cheesecake!

Queen Marie-Antoinette had King Louis XVI pull some strings to get her favorite portrait painter, Élizabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, admitted to France’s Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as a painter of historical allegory.  Rules at the Academy barred the few women that were admitted from life drawing classes attended by the men.  But that apparently didn’t stop Élizabeth-Louise from learning her anatomy lessons.  Soon everyone who was anyone sat for Vigée-Lebrun, including 30 portraits of Maire Antoinette.

Vigée-Lebrun became one of the most popular artists of her day.  She survived the French Revolution, fleeing to the courts of Italy, Austria, and Russia.  In Rome she was elected to the Roman Accademia di San Luca.  While in Russia she painted numerous members of Catherine the Great’s family. Vigée-Lebrun was made a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg as well.  She was able to return to France during the reign of Emperor Napoleon I, but much in demand by aristocrats and notables she also traveled to England and Switzerland on commissions.  In Switzerland she was made an honorary member of the Societe pour l’Avancement des Beaux-Arts of Geneva.  She published her memoirs in 1835 and 1837 giving us a glimspe of the artist’s training methods of the time.  Over her lifetime Vigée-Lebrun painted 660 portraits and 200 landscapes.  Not bad for a girl in the 18th century.  Funny nobody mentioned her in school.

Kathleen Benton

All art work featured in the slideshow by Élizabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun (French, 1755-1842)

Bacchante, 1785, Oil on panel, 109 x 78 cm, Museum Nissim de Comondo, Paris  France.  This painting was commissioned by Count de Vaudreuil, in addition to a portrait of himself.

Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, 1785, Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 23 3/8 in, Clark Institute, Williamstown, MA

Bacchus and Ariadne ?, Oil on canvas, 1782, unlocated

Allegory of Poetry, 1774, Oval, 24 x 30 in, unlocated

American Woman, 1803, Oil on canvas, unlocated

Young Woman in Love -?, Oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, unlocated

Portrait of a Young Lady as Flora, 1811, Oval, 72 x 60 cm, National Museum of Stockholm, Sweden

There are many sites the feature the art and career of Élizabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun.  The one I’ve found with the most information and art examples is at http://www.batguano.com/vigee.html