18th Century Engraving – Madame Vigée Le Brun

A late eighteenth century engraving depicting the self-portrait of Madame Vigée Le Brun.

Inscribed:

LOUISE ELISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN

de l’Académie Royale de Peinture

Peint par L. E. Vigée Le Brun

Gravé a Stouttgard par J. G. Müller de l.Academie Royale de Peinture…

Dimensions above refer to size of frame

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was a prominent French portrait painter of the late eighteenth century.  Her approach to painting is largely considered part of the aftermath of the Rococo showing elements of an adopted Neoclassical style. Her subject matter and colour palette is largely classified as Rococo while her style is unquestionably aligned with the emergence of Neoclassicism. Vigée Le Brun became renowned within Ancien Régime society through her work as portrait painter to Marie Antoinette. She enjoyed the patronage of numerous European aristocrats, actors, and writers, and was elected to art academies in ten cities.

Vigée Le Brun painted some 660 portraits and 200 landscapes. Beyond the many works in private collections, her paintings are owned by major museums, including the Louvre, Hermitage Museum, National Gallery London, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and other collections in continental Europe and the United States.