Death of Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was one of the great portrait artists of her day.
Born into relatively modest circumstances, she firmly established herself in society’s upper crust.
After earning the favours of the king and his family, she became the official court artist of Queen Marie Antoinette.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée was the daughter of Louis Vigée, a pastel artist and his wife Jeanne Maissin.
From an early age the young Élisabeth painted on every available surface, from her school books to the walls of her school.
This precocious gift prompted her father to declare, prophetically: “If anybody was born to be a painter, my child, it’s you.”
The young Élisabeth was very attached to her father, who died when she was just twelve years old.
Naturally enough, Élisabeth’s first subjects were her friends and family.
Among them was her future husband, Jean Baptiste Pierre Le Brun, a French painter, collector and art dealer.
Jean was the great-grand-nephew of Charles Le Brun, official painter to Louis XIV.
Élisabeth married Jean in 1776.
After years spent honing her talents, Élisabeth gradually developed a highly sophisticated and distinctly personal technique, making her one of the most skilled portrait artists of the day.
Her technical prowess helped her to rapidly develop an exclusive clientele, and a burgeoning reputation.
She became a member of the Académie de Saint-Luc, a guild of master painters and sculptors based in Paris.
In 1774, Élisabeth became the personal artist to Marie Antoinette, who would become her patron and confidante.
After painting the first major official portrait of Marie Antoinette in 1778, Élisabeth was regularly called upon to paint the queen.
Élisabeth produced 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette in six years.
The queen enjoyed sitting for her friend Élisabeth, and received her in her private apartments.
In 1783, Élisabeth painted a portrait of the queen in informal attire, which provoked outraged reactions at Court.
But Élisabeth’s reputation did not suffer, and she kept her royal and aristocratic clients.
In 1783, thanks largely to the queen’s influence, Élisabeth was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.
Her admission to the Academy was the ultimate honour.
Élisabeth’s numerous portraits provided a wonderful window onto the changing fashions of the day.
Women of ample proportions and full, sensuous lips were depicted with an indolent, dreamy or even frankly provocative look in their eyes.
Her portraits often contained erotically-charged, sensual undertones.
Professionally dependent on the patronage of the royal family, Élisabeth became the subject of vicious slander involving Marie Antoinette.
As the turmoil of the French Revolution grew, Élisabeth’s house was targeted, due to her association with the queen.
On the night of 6th October 1789, a fearful Élisabeth left Paris with her daughter, for Italy.
This was to be the start of a long exile of over twelve years.
Separated from her husband and her life at court, Élisabeth relied on her reputation and charm to build up a European clientele, fascinated by the French style.
Élisabeth enjoyed success wherever she went, and thanks to the prices she charged for her portraits she was able to maintain a lifestyle in keeping with her grand reputation.
Shortly after returning to Paris on 18th January 1802, Élisabeth became a regular guest of Joséphine Bonaparte, the first wife of Napoleon.
Élisabeth continued to put her paintbrush at the service of the Empire and Europe’s aristocracy, making several visits to England between 1803 and 1805.
Élisabeth settled in France permanently in 1805.
On 30th March 1842, Élisabeth Louis Vigée Le Brun passed away at 99 Rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, aged 86.
She was buried at the Cimetière de Louveciennes.
Her tombstone epitaph says
“Ici, enfin, je repose…”
“Here, at last, I rest…”
