Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
A French portrait painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She made her name with portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette and, after the Revolution, was active at courts across Europe. The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum holds her "Princess Youssoupoff."
Elisabeth-Louise Vigee Le Brun was born in Paris in 1755, the daughter of a pastel painter. She lost her father when young, but began work as a portraitist in her teens and supported her family. She later married the art dealer Le Brun.
From 1778 she painted portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette and left many works depicting the queen, including portraits of her with her children. In 1783 she was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Her strength was painting sitters in a way that felt approachable, with soft light and natural expressions. Very few women were able to enter the Academy at the time.
When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, feeling in danger as a painter close to the queen, she fled abroad with her daughter. Passing through Italy and Vienna, she stayed in St. Petersburg, Russia, and painted many portraits of the nobility. "Princess Youssoupoff" (1797) at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum dates from this Russian period. She returned to France around 1802 and later wrote her memoirs. She died in Paris in 1842. In Russia she also painted portraits of the granddaughters of Empress Catherine II. A self-portrait she made while in Italy is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
