Madame Grand (Noël Catherine Verlée, 1761–1835)
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1783
An oval portrait painted by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in 1783, showing Catherine Noël Worlée, known in Paris as Madame Grand. Born in French India, she arrived in the capital in 1782 and soon became a sought-after courtesan. The painter shows her holding a musical score, a detail that links her to music. Curators at the Met have compared her pose and, above all, her gaze with Domenichino's Saint Cecilia of 1618, which points to a dialogue with the Italian tradition of religious painting. The work was shown at the Paris Salon that same year and was well received; one critic praised its "volupté enchanteresse", a bewitching sensuality. The picture shows how Vigée Le Brun combined elegance and learned references to shape the public image of a woman in Parisian society of her time.
- Painter
- Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
- Date
- 1783
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 92 × 72 cm
- Museum
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
- Genre
- portrait
- Depicts
- bow, lace, musical notation, shawl, stripe, Catherine Grand, woman, ribbon
More works by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
