Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Portraitist to Marie Antoinette and master of Rococo-Neoclassical style.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), often called Madame Le Brun, was a French portrait painter active in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Her work is usually seen as a late form of Rococo with some Neoclassical touches: her subjects and colors lean Rococo, but her overall style points toward Neoclassicism. She made her name in the old French royal society by painting Marie Antoinette, and she also worked for European nobles, actors, and writers. Ten cities elected her to their art academies. Contemporary artists like Joshua Reynolds ranked her among the greatest portraitists of her day, comparing her to Flemish and Dutch masters such as Rubens. Over her career, she produced 660 portraits and 200 landscapes. Many of these now hang in major museums, including the Louvre, the Hermitage, the National Gallery in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was unusually sensitive to sounds, sights, and smells. In her eighties, between 1835 and 1837, she published her memoirs in three volumes, helped by her nieces. The books include letters, character sketches, and advice for young portrait painters.
Born in Paris, she was the daughter of a hairdresser and a portraitist who belonged to the Académie de Saint-Luc. She showed artistic talent early: at age seven or eight she sketched a bearded man, and her father, delighted, told her she would be a painter and began teaching her. She entered a convent at five and stayed until 1766, then worked as an assistant to her father’s friend, the painter Pierre Davesne. Her father died of infections after surgery when she was twelve. The next year, her mother married a wealthy but stingy jeweler, Jacques-François Le Sèvre, and the family moved near the Palais Royal. Vigée Le Brun later wrote that she hated her stepfather, who wore her father’s clothes without altering them. During this time, she learned from artists Gabriel François Doyen, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Joseph Vernet. Greuze’s influence shows in her portrait of her younger brother, a playwright. After her father’s death, her mother took her to the Palais de Luxembourg’s art gallery, where the works of Rubens and other old masters impressed her deeply. She also visited private galleries, copying Van Dyck, Rubens, and Rembrandt to improve. Early on, she swapped her given names and went by Louise among friends, signing her works as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, though she later acknowledged her baptismal name was Élisabeth Louise.
By her early teens, she was painting portraits professionally. She disliked the high Rococo fashion of the time and often asked sitters to change their clothes. Inspired by Raphael and Domenichino, she draped them in shawls and long scarves, a style that became common in her work. After her studio was seized for operating without a license, she joined the Académie de Saint-Luc, which showed her works in its Salon. She became a member in 1774. Her reputation grew quickly, spreading beyond France. By that year, she had painted portraits of the Comte Orloff, Comte Pierre Chouvaloff, the Comtesse de Brionne, the Duchess of Orléans, the Marquis de Choiseul, and the Chancellor de Aguesseau, among others. In 1776, she got her first royal commission: a portrait of the Comte de Provence, later King Louis XVIII. After her stepfather retired, the family moved to the Hôtel de Lubert in Paris, where she met Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, a painter and art dealer related to Charles Le Brun. She often visited his apartments to view his private collection, borrowing paintings to copy and improve her skills—she considered this one of the best lessons she received. After six months, Le Brun proposed marriage. She hesitated, weighing her steady income against the offer.
- born
- 16 April 1755
- died
- 30 March 1842
- field
- Painting
- nationality
- French
- known_for
- Portrait painter to Marie Antoinette; created 660 portraits and 200 landscapes
Lore & Background
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 serving as the portrait painter to Marie Antoinette. She enjoyed the patronage of European aristocrats, actors, and writers, and was elected to art academies in ten cities. Some famous contemporary artists, such as Joshua Reynolds, viewed her as one of the greatest portraitists of her time, comparing her with Flemish (notably Rubens) and the old Dutch masters. 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 and the United States. Her personal habitus was characterized by a high sensitivity to sound, sight and smell. Between 1835 and 1837, when Vigée Le Brun was in her eighties, with the help of her nieces Caroline Rivière and Eugénie Tripier Le Franc, she published her memoirs in three volumes (Souvenirs), some of which are in epistolary format. They also contain many pen portraits as well as advice for young portraitists.
Reader's Guide
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 inclinations from her childhood, making a sketch of a bearded man at the age of seven or eight; when he first saw her sketches her father was jubilant and exclaimed that 'You will be a painter my child, if there ever was one', and started to give her lessons in art. In 1760, at the age of five, she had entered a convent, where she remained until 1766. She then worked as an assistant to her father's friend, the painter and poet Pierre Davesne, with whom she learned more about painting. Her father died when she was 12 years old, from infections after several surgical operations. In 1768, her mother married a wealthy but mean jeweller, Jacques-François Le Sèvre, and shortly after, the family moved to the Rue Saint-Honoré, close to the Palais Royal. 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 François Doyen, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Joseph Vernet. Greuze's influence is evident in her portrait of her younger brother, playwright and poet Étienne Vigée. 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, and the Marquis de Levis; the artist took notes and copied the works of old masters such as Van Dyck, Rubens and Rembrandt to improve her art. At an early age, she reversed the order of her given Christian names, and was known among her inner circle as 'Louise'. For most of her life, she signed her paintings, documents and letters as 'Louise 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 painti
Did You Know?
- Vigée Le Brun created 660 portraits and 200 landscapes over her career.
- She was elected to art academies in ten cities.
- Her memoirs, published in three volumes between 1835 and 1837, include advice for young portraitists.
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