Aug 2, 20191 min read

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Artist 175

Portrait painter

Forgotten female artists from history

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (born 1755) was a French artist who was self taught and became an artist despite the major obstacles that women in late 18th-century Paris. She specialized in portrait painting and was also known as ‘Madame Lebrun’ and ‘Madame Le Brun’

She was active during some of the most turbulent times in European history. With the intervention of Marie Antoinette, she was admitted into the French Academy at the young age of 28 as one of only four female members.

Vigée Le Brun was particularly praised for her sympathetic portraits of aristocratic women, deemed more natural than the works of her contemporaries.

Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of Rococo with elements of an adopted Neoclassical style.

Her subject matter and color palette can be classified as Rococo, but her style is aligned with the emergence of Neoclassicism.

Vigée Le Brun created a name for herself in Ancien Régime society by serving as the portrait painter to Marie Antoinette.

She enjoyed the patronage of European aristocrats, actors, and writers, and was elected to art academies in ten cities.

Vigée Le Brun created some 660 portraits and 200 landscapes.

She was forced to flee Paris during the Revolution, and as a result she travelled throughout Europe, impressively obtaining commissions in Florence, Naples, Vienna, Saint Petersburg, and Berlin.

#celebratingfemaleartists #louiseélisabethvigéelebrun

#Portraitpainter #portraitpainting

#Forgottenfemaleartists #artblog #artistoftheday #artistsoninstagram #artresearch #celebratingart #investigatingart #blog #artist #art #contemporaryart #artistbio #womeninart #arthistory #forgottenartists