Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
The Exceptional Woman
1755-1842
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Rococo Style
Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was an exceptional woman and female painter, particularly of
portraits, her style combining Rococo grace and delicacy with Neo-Classical
ideals of simplicity and purity.
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She was born in Paris in
1755 to Louis Vigée, a minor portraitist, and Jeanne Maissin, a
hairdresser. She wrote in her Memoirs that her "love for painting
declared itself in my earliest youth". Although her father died
when she was only fifteen, she earned enough money painting portraits to
support her mother and her younger brother.
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Self Portrait,
painted 1775.
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France 1953.
Self Portrait with her daughter, painted 1789. Painting belongs
to Louvre, Paris. The stamp is a semi-postal for the benefit of
French Red Cross. Scott B28
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In 1775, at the age of twenty the artist
moved with her mother and her brother to a mansion owned and lived in by the
established connoisseur, art dealer, and painter Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun,
whose art collection filled the house. Vigée-Lebrun studied the works that
surrounded her and by copying these paintings she received "the best
lessons I could conceivably have obtained." After six months, Lebrun asked
his tenant to marry him, and although she was not too keen on the idea, her
mother insisted upon the marriage.
In 1778 Vigée-Lebrun painted her first
portrait from life of Queen Marie Antoinette, which assured her career as a
society portraitist. The painting belongs to the Palace of
Versailles.
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In 1783 she became a
member of the Académie Royale. During the French Revolution
Vigée-Lebrun travelled throughout Europe, establishing an international
reputation; her sitters included many members of the nobility. A
prodigious worker, she is thought to have painted over 800 canvases;
among the best known is her 1789 self-portrait with her daughter (Louvre,
Paris), see stamp above.
Vigee-Lebrun made 6
copies of this painting. Two are in the French state collection, one in
US congress and was burned or stolen when the British sacked the capitol
in 1812, one to Catherine the Great, location now unknown, and two
others are missing.
Her reputation quickly
grew and she soon began to receive commissions from aristocrats and
socialites. Among her clients were Count Schouvaloff, the Countess
d'Harcourt, and Count Orloff, one of Peter the Third's assassins. |
Although the artist, as the wife of an art
dealer, was officially barred from applying to the Académie Royale de Peinture
et de Sculpture, the Queen intervened and in 1783 Vigée-Lebrun was accorded
full membership. Already famous for her portraits, Vigée-Lebrun nevertheless
submitted as her reception piece a history painting Peace Bringing Back
Abundance, suggesting that she desired recognition for her ability to paint
historical subjects which ranked higher than portraiture on the academic
hierarchy.
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When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Vigée-Lebrun's
friendship with the Queen branded the artist a "royalist," a decided
liability in that time. On October 6, 1789, following the invasion of Versailles
by Parisian mobs, she escaped to Italy with her daughter, intending to return to
France once order was re-established. During the twelve years of exile that
followed, Vigée-Lebrun profited from her international reputation, obtaining
lucrative commissions and admission to the Academies in the countries she
visited.
During her six-year stay
in Russia, she produced many portraits of the aristocracy and filled at
least four notebooks, one of which is in the collection of the National
Museum of Women in the Arts.
Vigée-Lebrun painted the portrait
of Princess Belozersky in 1798 during her stay in St. Petersburg.
Princess Anne Grigorievna Bélosselsky Bélozersky was a daughter of
Catherine II's Secretary of State. The painting reflects beautifully the
artist's admiration for the work of Peter Paul Rubens. This painting is
now on display at the National Museum of Woman of the Arts, Washington,
D.C.
Vigée-Lebrun received permission
in 1802 to return to France. She eventually settled in Paris, continued
her successful artistic career, and in 1835 published her memoirs. She
died in 1842.
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Also in the philatelic world she has become
famous, and a number of stamps depicting her works have been issued world
wide. Below is a small selection.
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France 2002. Self
Portrait, belonging to the Office Museum, Florence (Italy), cf. First Day
Sheet to the left.
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France 2003. Red
one-colour print on a souvenir card issued by La Poste, France, as a present
to their customers. The cachet shows a portrait of Mlle de Bonneuil,
painted in 1785 when the artist was only 30 years old. The original
painting belongs to the Louvre Museum, Cabinet de Dessins-Jumelet, in Paris
(France). Cancellation 1st January 2003.
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Romania 1969.
Portrait of Madame d'Aguesseau. The painting belongs to the National
Museum of Arts, Bucharest (Romania). Scott # 2122.
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Belgium 1944.
Portrait of André Erneste Modeste Grétry, composer (1741-1813). The
stamp is a semi-postal for the benefit of Belgian prisoners of war and their
families. The original painting belongs to Versailles (France), Musée
Historique. Scott # B 382.
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Paraguay 1967.
Portrait of a Boy with Red Jacket. Private collection. Scott # 1038.
The subjects of her works during this period included many members of the nobility. A prodigious worker, Vigée-Lebrun is thought to have painted more than 800 canvases.
Her style combined rococo grace and delicacy with neoclassical ideals of simplicity and purity.
Countries that have issued
stamps in Vigée Lebrun's honour are:
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Belgium (1944), Burundi
(1968), Cook Islands (1985), Dubai (1968), France (1953 and
2002), Gambia
(1993), Jordan (1974), Paraguay
(1967), Romania
(1969), St. Lucia
(1981), and Tchad (2 stamps 1971).
Sources and links:
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