Élisabeth Vigee Le Brun
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was one of the great portrait artists of her day, easily the equal of Quentin de La Tour or Jean Baptiste Greuze. Born into relatively modest circumstances, she firmly established herself in society’s upper crust. After painting the first major official portrait of Marie Antoinette in 1778, which met with a very positive reception, Vigée Le Brun was regularly called upon to paint the queen and produced 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette in six years. The queen enjoyed sitting for her friend Élisabeth Louise and received her in her private apartments. In 1783, she painted a portrait of the queen in informal attire which provoked outraged reactions at Court. But Vigée Le Brun’s reputation did not suffer, and she kept her royal and aristocratic clients.
Have a great Saturday and please note that we celebrate Women Artists Month :)
P.S. Read more about Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the women in her portraits here <3