![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As a counterpoint, she painted the Portrait of Hubert Robert. The culture of the Enlightenment and the influence of Rousseau obliged the artist to take on this role, which she did happily and with resounding success. The latter is one of the finest and most popular of the many works by this painter owned by the Louvre and has remained the emblem of «maternal tenderness» since it was first exhibited to the public. First, a Portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette posing for a portrait surrounded by her children in an attempt to rectify the image of an extravagant libertine secondly, the portrait of a female artist hugging her daughter Julie to her chest in an effusive Raphael-like manner. She made her greatest coup de force at the 1787 Exhibition where she presented two paintings that cannot be dissociated. Vigee Le Brun used self-portraits to assert her status, circulate her image and show people the mother she had become despite the constraints of a career. With the Ancien Régime and its School of Fine Arts coming to an end, she supplanted most of her rival portrait artists. Self-portraits by Vigée Le Brun abound: paintings, pastels and drawings that elegantly associate feminine grace and pride. ![]()
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