Works by this Artist
Marie-Antoinette and Her ChildrenElisabeth Vigée-LeBrun, 1787
Background
daughter of Louis Vigée, a pastel painter specializing in portraiture
Studies
privately; Académie Royale
Career
1774 – member of Academy of St Luke (Paris) exhibits there regularly
1776 – marries Jean-Baptiste Le Brun (art dealer)
1783 – becomes Académie Royale full member (portrait painter) with acceptance of Peace Bringing Back Plenty (1780, Louvre); begins contributing regularly to Paris Salon
Travels
Belgium and The Netherlands (1781); 1789-1802 exile due to royal associations (Italy 1789-1793; Vienna 1793-94; St Petersburg 1795-1801); London (1803-05)
Commissions from
Marie-Antoinette (Queen of France); Lord Byron
Important Artworks
p>Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1780s (The National Gallery, London)Readings
May, Gita. Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun: The Odyssey of an Artist in an Age of Revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005
Sheriff, Mary D. The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996
Vigée-LeBrun, Elisabeth. The Memoirs of Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1989
Images
Vigée-LeBrun’s home