Self-Portrait

Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, Self-Portrait, 1790, oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm

(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

• Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun was a celebrated French artist known especially for her lavish portraits of Marie-Antoinette and other European monarchs and nobles as well as for her many self-portraits.
• The artist who created this opulent showpiece became famous and wealthy as Queen Marie-Antoinette’s official court painter. 
• It is a late example of the Rococo style. Rococo epitomized a fashionable ideal, characterized by sexual gratification and freedom; she was more conservative. 
• This particular self-portrait was painted in Rome. The artist sits in a relaxed pose at her easel and is positioned slightly off center. 
• Her belt is a wide red ribbon. 
• Vigée-LeBrun holds a brush to a partially finished work. 
• The subject is probably Marie-Antoinette—perhaps intended as a tribute to her favorite sitter.
• Slightly used brushes are at the ready along with a palette, she has everything cradled in her arm close to the viewer. 
• The painting expresses an alert intelligence, vibrancy, and freedom from care.
• A working painter, wife, and mother that displays an extraordinarily sanguine persona.