In Print and Paint: Picturing Identity through the Self-Portrait and Autobiography
 
Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun, Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat
Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 70.5 cm, National Gallery, London

Text Copyright 2000 by Nancy Walkup and Pam Stephens, Crystal Productions

One of the most respected artists in her day, Elizabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun was born in Paris on April 16, 1755, to the portrait painter Louis Vigee and his wife Jean Maissin. Though her father was not particularly successful as an artist, he did teach and encourage his daughter to paint until his death in 1767. Her talent and charm led to early success; even at the young age of fifteen she earned enough money painting portraits to support her mother and younger brother.

Vigee-Lebrun developed her talent by visiting museums and copying portraits by masters like Rubens, Raphael, and Rembrandt, an accepted practice at the time. As her reputation quickly grew, she began to receive commissions from aristocrats and celebrities. At age twenty she moved with her mother and brother to the mansion of Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, an art dealer, collector, and painter. Here she studied and copied his extensive art collection, receiving “the best lessons I could conceivably have obtained.” Six months later the artist accepted Lebrun’s proposal of marriage. Vigee-Lebrun’s only daughter, Julie, was born on February 12, 1780.

Vigee-Lebrun’s success as a portrait painter was guaranteed in 1778 when she painted her first portrait of the Queen Marie Antoinette. She became the court painter for the queen, eventually painting from twenty to thirty portraits of the royal family. When Vigee-Lebrun was barred from applying to the prestigious Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture because her husband was an art dealer, intervention by Marie Antoinette encouraged the Academy to accept her in 1783. Vigee-Lebrun submitted Peace Bringing Back Abundance, a history painting, as her reception piece at the Academy, perhaps to prove that she, too, was capable of art ranked superior to portraiture. At the height of her success in Paris, she was known for her salon, where her fashionable friends and patrons assembled to talk and listen to music.

When the French Revolution began in 1789, Vigee-Lebrun’s relationship with the Queen placed her and her family in jeopardy. Just after painting her most well known painting of Marie Antoinette and her children, the artist and her daughter escaped to Italy in October of 1789. Though Vigee-Lebrun was unable to return to France for twelve years, she and her daughter traveled to many countries where she painted royal portraits and became a member of various art academies. During her twelve years of exile, Vigee-Lebrun made good use of her international reputation as an artist. She continued to paint the celebrities of her time, such as Lord Byron and the Prince of Wales, and traveled to Dresden, Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, London, and other cosmopolitan centers of the day.

Vigee-Lebrun’s husband remained in Paris during the revolution and was temporarily jailed for his association with her. He sued for divorce in 1794, a year after Marie Antoinette was found guilty of treason and guillotined. Vigee-Lebrun settled in Russia for six years. After the Revolution, she was able to return to Paris in 1805. She resumed her salon, continued to support herself by painting, published a memoir in 1835, and died following a stroke at age 87 in 1842.

The Art

Self-portrait with a Straw Hat may have served as an advertisement for Vigee-Lebrun’s expertise in painting since she made her living through portraiture. The artist is depicted from hat to hips, fashionably dressed in feather-trimmed finery. Though her body is slightly turned, her head faces the viewer, confident in her artistic abilities and proud of her talent. Vigee-Lebrun stands posed seemingly ready to begin painting, gracefully holding the tools of her trade--her palette and brushes--in her left hand. Her right hand seems to reach out to the viewer, encouraging a closer look. As a painter of women from a woman’s point of view, her portraits were always flattering, and she followed the same approach when painting herself.

Vigee-Lebrun has pictured herself as a lovely young woman with luminescent, porcelain skin, rosy cheeks, and a slightly parted, plump little mouth. Her elegant clothing reflects the status of her clientele--royalty and aristocrats. She wears a white-trimmed, pink dress fetchingly wrapped with a black net shawl. Her flower and feather adorned hat shades her delicate complexion from the light that illuminates her pale skin. Other adornments include fashionably coifed hair and pendant earrings. Though Vigee-Lebrun appears to be outdoors, positioned before a bright-blue sky with pink-edged white and gray clouds, the self-portrait was most likely painted in the studio. The colors on the artist’s palette match the colors used in the painting, though it is improbable that the paints on her palette would remain so neatly separated while she was working. This self-portrait is characteristic of Vigee-Lebrun’s style that included informal poses, animated facial expressions, and skillful depiction of fabric folds and textures.

Cultural Context

In Europe in Vigee-Lebrun’s time, art academies controlled the careers of artists through approval acknowledged by acceptance for membership in the academy. The academies provided systematic teaching, exhibitions, and discussions. It was impossible to be a successful artist without membership. The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, founded in 1648, limited female membership to only four, explaining one reason why Vigee-Lebrun encountered difficulties she was pursued acceptance in 1783. Her acceptance and professional success were instrumental in her later acceptance into academies in other countries while she was in exile from Paris. In a time and culture dominated by male artists, she achieved professional recognition, social status, and financial success through her own self-nurtured talent and ambitious efforts.

Elements of Art and Principles of Design

The composition of Self-portrait is well planned. The bends and diagonals of Vigee-Lebrun’s arms and palette balance compositionally and direct the viewer to the artist’s face in this asymmetrical arrangement. Her figure and face are well proportioned and the low placement of the horizon line in the painting provides room for a dramatic sky that serves as the background. Contrasts between different colors and dark and light values are masterfully rendered. For example, Vigee-Lebrun’s pale skin and the pink of her dress are effectively contrasted with her black wrap.

Media and Techniques

In the traditions of her time, Vigee-Lebrun learned her techniques by studying the work of master artists such as Rubens, Raphael, and Rembrandt. She was especially influenced by Rubens after a visit to Holland to see his work. On her return she painted this self-portrait as an homage to Rubens. She adopted his working methods, beginning with a ground of brown-tinted gesso and then adding a light sketch. The painting was built up in layers and completed with numerous colored glazes that produced the effect of luminosity. In this painting Vigee-Lebrun also demonstrates her remarkable ability to realistically render difficult objects such as the black net shawl, the feather on her hat, and the textures and folds of her garments.