Self-portrait of Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1790
This 1790 self-portrait by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun shows the painter at work: she holds a palette and brushes and, with her right hand, is about to touch a canvas where the outline of Marie Antoinette, whom she had painted as official portraitist, is traced faintly in white chalk. Le Brun painted it in Rome, where she arrived in 1789 after leaving France during the Revolution. Inspired by the collection of artists' self-portraits at the Uffizi, with which she felt a kinship, she completed the work in a matter of weeks, intending it for that Florentine gallery, an honour she approached with some unease. The composition blends rococo grace, visible in the warm smile and loose curls, with a plainer clarity that anticipates neoclassicism. The black silk gown and bright red sash stand out against a simple background, while the white lace sharpens the curve of the neck. The technique is delicate, with soft gradations of light and shadow and denser impasto in the lace. Beyond technique, the picture is a statement of loyalty to the queen at a tense political moment, conveying serenity and self-assurance rather than fear.
- Painter
- Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
- Date
- 1790
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 100 × 81 cm
- Museum
- Vasari Corridor, Florence
- Movement
- Rococo painting
- Genre
- self-portrait
- Depicts
- Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
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