Marie Antoinette with a Rose

Marie Antoinette with a Rose is an oil painting by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, court painter to the queen, dated 1783. It shows the sovereign in three-quarter view, holding a rose in an outdoor setting. Its most interesting episode concerns its exhibition: the first version showed the queen in a cotton chemise-style dress, a casual garment that visitors to the Salon judged unfitting for a queen of France. Once it was withdrawn, the painter quickly produced a new portrait in which the queen wears a blue-grey silk gown with lace, pearls and a feathered headdress, far more in keeping with formal court dress. The change is also linked to support for the silk weavers of Lyon, who were struggling against imported cotton. The original portrait seems to be lost, but the artist later made several further versions, which helped make this image one of the best known of the queen.

Painter

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

Date

1783

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

113 × 87 cm

Museum

Musée de l'Histoire de France, Versailles

Genre

portrait

Depicts

rose, lace, Marie Antoinette

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