The Queen's Favorite
A look into the incredible life of Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun
"The passion for painting was innate in me. This passion has never failed, perhaps because it has always increased with time; even today, I experience all its charm, and I hope that this divine passion ends only with my life." - Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun
Like many millennials, my first introduction to Marie Antoinette was the Sofia Coppola film and the book that inspired it which essentially launched my lifelong obsession with Marie Antoinette and everything related to the French Revolution.
When I learned about the French Revolution in high school it was as if I was changed physiologically. My normal history teacher was out on maternity leave and a young student teacher stepped in for our unit on the French Revolution. His teaching methods were a bit unconventional. He made us listen to Muse and look at art to better understand the sentiments of the people and even had our class do a mock trial of Napoleon Bonaparte. I had no idea history could feel so alive.
As a result, I consumed every single book possible on the topic. And, by default, I was introduced to an artist everyone knows the work of, but few know the name of: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.
What baffles me the most is that Vigee Le Brun herself is an amazing and fascinating woman. She survived the French Revolution, was a child prodigy, pushed past gender norms, and even wrote a memoir about her life. Yet she’s often left out of the conversation when art history, especially Rococo art, is on the table.
What we’re missing is easily one of the coolest figures in art history. To call Vigee Le Brun a French It Girl wouldn’t be wrong. She was a trendsetter, highly sought out by male suitors, and was a favorite of the queen herself.
Born in Paris on April 16, 1755, Elisabeth started learning art at a young age with the help of her father Louis Vigee. He was himself an artist who worked mainly in pastels and had a special affection for his daughter, whom he lovingly taught. She was also taught by the artists Gabriel François Doyen and Pierre Davesne. All three men had a hand in shaping the young Elisabeth as an artist. Her mother encouraged her artistic work, buying materials for her and taking her to the Palais du Luxembourg and the Palais Royale so she could study art. Unfortunately, her father passed when she was still young. Elisabeth considered it the first great tragedy of her life.
However, she did not let this stop her from creating. By the age of 14, Elisabeth’s talent was gaining recognition and she was able to make a living off her art. She became the primary source of income for her family. By 1774, she was accepted into the painters’ guild of the Académie de Saint-Luc. This added further momentum to her career.
What attracted many to Le Brun’s work was how she managed to paint her subjects in a flattering manner. Not only that, but she was very charming and pleasant to sit for. It’s been remarked that Vigee Le Brun was herself very beautiful, and was often commissioned with the intent to start an affair. Elisabeth coyly stated that her way of dealing with this was to make the men who did not interest her pose in a way that forced them to look away from her while she painted so they didn’t get any ideas. A true queen.
It was in 1776 that she would marry Jean-Baptiste Le Brun. He was himself an artist and an art dealer, so the match seemed made in heaven. Together the couple had one daughter, Jeanne-Julie-Louise. Sadly, Elisabeth’s hopes for a happy marriage were short-lived. Her husband was a horrible gambler, so Elisabeth’s income was heavily relied upon by the family. Elisabeth’s paintings sold for 12,000 francs, she would only receive 6 francs total as her husband took the rest for himself. Yeah, not our favorite guy.
On top of that, marrying Jean-Baptiste prevented her from being accepted into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. Participants were forbidden from dealing with the commercial aspect of the art world, which was a little impossible when she was married to an art dealer.
Despite her unhappy marriage, Elisabeth’s luck would soon turn when she got her most illustrious client yet, Marie Antoinette.
I’m going to step back for a second before we get into her work with Marie Antoinette. I can’t go into her life in a short substack post, but I want to set the scene for what the art world was like for women in the 18th century.
It wasn’t that different from other times, and many of the issues of the time echo into today’s art world. The fact was to have a career as long and profitable as Vigee Le Brun’s was nearly impossible. For years, women were not allowed to paint portraits. They were only allowed to paint still lives. Once women were allowed to paint portraits, the prestige was gone. Essentially, the art world moved under the motion that the moment women started doing something in art, it was beneath men.
Given that her introduction to art was through a History Painter, it’s not strange that Elisabeth herself wanted to do historical scenes. However, that was considered beneath her, and though she still attempted to do so (another post for another day), she was never able to cement herself as a true History Artist and instead was renowned for portraits alone.
The final thing I want to be clear is because women were not welcomed into the world of art and were constantly put down for their work, this meant if there were other women artists they were competition, not peers. I could write a whole ass piece (and probably will) on Elisabeth’s rivalry with Adélaïde Labille Guiard. I wish they could have been friends, but I also love a good art rivalry, so you can learn more about that here.
Keeping all of this in mind, it wouldn’t necessarily be unfair to say that Elisabeth’s relationship with Marie Antoinette is largely why she had the life and career she had. Even when Marie Antoinette was gone and the French aristocracy was mostly, well, beheaded, Elisabeth still had a prestigious career. However, the artist gained more than an elite clientele from the queen.
Which brings us to her most famous subject to date.
In total, Vigee Le Brun painted 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette. Her first portrait, shown above, was painted in 1778. This was painted for Marie Antoinette’s mother, Maria Theresa, who ruled over the Habsburg Empire. This pleased Maria Theresa, which was a great relief to Marie Antoinette. Let’s just say they had a tense relationship.
Earning the approval of Maria Theresa was the golden ticket for Vigee Le Brun. She quickly became Marie Antoinette’s favorite and was pulled into a life she couldn’t have imagined before. To say they were friends would be a bit of an overstatement. However, earning Marie Antoinette’s favor was vital for Elisabeth’s career. She was given membership to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on May 31, 1783, by order of King Louis XVI. This gave her the chance to submit work to the biennial salons, a huge honor for her. And yes, she often submitted paintings of the royals, a reminder that while she only did portraits, she did portraits of the most important family in France. Often. It’s a pretty big flex, especially for a woman.
On top of that, her portraits have a sort of intimate nature to them. We’re given the impression that she is close to the subject, painting them up close like a good friend. Her portraits alone suggest that she was welcomed into the inner circle of Marie Antoinette’s world in Versailles. She is not just painting them, she is one of them.
Her paintings of Marie Antoinette were not without controversy. Marie Antoinette found the strict rules of Versailles to be constraining. She opposed many of the rules, such as the wearing of a grand corps, and eventually financed her own special hideaway known as Le Petit Trianon. This did little to help her failing reputation, so often Elisabeth was employed to paint Marie Antoinette in a way that shed her in a positive light.
The image here presents Marie Antoinette in the style of clothing she wore in Le Petit Trianon. The idea is not that far off from what we see on TikTok when young women dress up to meet an ‘aesthetic.’ In many ways, Marie Antoinette is the original ‘cottage core’ or ‘coquette’ girl. Marie Antoinette’s home of Austria was much less intense than France, and she sought to recreate her Austrian roots at Le Petite Trianon. The hairstyle, known as the Hedgehog, was a famous fashionable style of the type (keeping in mind she was the standard of fashion).
The softness of the painting, along with posing her with flowers, is meant to evoke in us a sense of a more subdued and humble version of the queen. However, when presented at the Salon of 1783, it was met with intense criticism. You may have noticed the first image on this post has a startling resemblance to this piece. That’s not an error. Elisabeth removed this painting only a few days after it was displayed and replaced it with a replica in the blue silk dress.
The problem with this painting is the dress was too similar to that of a chemise. In 18th-century fashion, a chemise was worn under a stay, to which then a pannier, stomacher, then an overdress were added at the bare minimum. Take a look at the first painting Elisabeth did of Marie Antoinette. Notice all the layers? That dress was extravagant, yes, but not always comfortable. It was normal for women to faint at Versailles. You can see how in 18th century eyes this dress would be scandalous. And that’s not even taking into account that the dress was made of cotton instead of silk, which was suffering at the time. (I should note that while I’m a huge fashion history nerd it’s been years since I studied 18th century fashion so I may have missed some details on the fashion.)
As we know, of course, things would only get worse for Marie Antoinette. By July of 1785, Maria Antoinette’s reputation was dealt another blow following the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. The queen had zero involvement in the affair, but public perception was still turned against her. There are many reasons Marie Antoinette was hated, but a large part of this was because she did not give birth to an heir as soon as the public expected. In fact, the royal couple didn’t consummate their marriage fast enough. This was an issue as unfortunately, all people cared about was when Marie Antoinette was gonna pop out babies and solidify the alliance between France and Austria.
So the idea came to have Elisabeth to portray Marie Antoinette as a loving mother surrounded by her children. I always find it interesting that while Elisabeth was a ‘mere portrait artist’ she was essentially hired to paint royal propaganda. I’ll go into this more next week, so let’s get to the history.
Here Marie Antoinette is depicted surrounded by her children. Her daughter Marie-Thérèse looks up at her with loving admiration. Her youngest Louis XVII is sitting on her lap playfully (I’ll be honest, I always laugh when I look at him), and the Dauphin Louis Joseph is off to the side. Marie Antoinette is still presented in grandeur but with little jewelry. She’s a queen, but she’s one of the people. This is almost funny to think of given how gorgeous the setting is, but careful attention is brought to the empty crib beside Marie Antoinette.
The Dauphin Louis Joseph points to the empty crib to tell the viewer, “Look, we know of loss as well.” Again, I find that a little silly with everything else going on, but I can hardly blame Vigee Le Brun. The empty crib is there to remind the public of the queen’s youngest who died that same year, Sophie-Hélène-Béatrix. In an almost ironic twist, the Dauphin would also die young.
By this point, Elisabeth was well aware of how much the public hated Marie Antoinette and feared exhibiting the painting. She initially refused to send it for the Salon of August 1787, but the administration insisted upon it. Distressed, Elisabeth locked herself at home and prayed incessantly for its success. To her surprise, there was a positive reaction to the group portrait. There were also mixed reviews, but no one was demanding she lose her head. The portrait was hung on the walls of Versailles so that Marie Antoinette could pass it on her way to mass.
One of my favorite tidbits about this painting was that during Napoleon’s time, people would come to visit the gallery and look at this painting. He wasn’t pleased with the idea that people were admiring a work depicting the then-dead Marie Antoinette, but he didn’t want to shoot himself in the foot by destroying it. So he had it removed and put in a dark corner where visitors had to pay to see it. When she returned from her exile, Elisabeth was pleased to see the painting displayed once more for public view.
Despite Vigee Le Brun’s best efforts, none of her paintings were enough to save the ruined reputation of Queen Marie Antoinette. Eventually, she had to run away from France to avoid meeting the guillotine. She intended to live in exile for six months and instead found she was gone for twelve years. She didn’t stop painting and went on to meet more royals and grow her career in surprising ways. But when she did return to France, the country she once knew was no more.
I have to stop here, but don’t think I won’t write more on her. I recently got my hands on her memoir and am eager to devour it and see what more I can learn about this incredible woman and her life. The fact that Elisabeth’s paintings are still recognizable today and shown in classrooms throughout the world is no light feat.
Ironically, despite the fact that she wanted to be a history painter and was unable to move past portraits, it is Vigee Le Brun’s paintings that stand as historically significant works. By painting the French Queen, she got the one thing she wanted most: she painted history. And history hasn’t forgotten her paintings. Let’s make sure it doesn’t forget her name.
Wow. I’ve read that almost holding my breath. Looking forward to more
This was so interesting. I keep thinking I need to feature Elisabeth Le Brun at some point, for her beautiful self portrait. But a lot of what you share here are things I had no idea about - particularly with just how many pictures she made with Marie Antionette, and how close she was to meeting the same fate as the Queen too.
Also, never knew she had written a memoir!
So I really hope you will be able to write a bit more about that when you have read it.