Elizabeth Vigeé-Lebrun

Elizabeth Vigeé-Lebrun 
b. 1755, Paris; d. 1842, Paris

The most famous female painter of the eighteenth century, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun studied with her father, Louis Vigée, but was equally influenced by her contemporaries. A prolific artist with more than 800 works attributed to her, she began painting portraits professionally in her teens and at nineteen gained entrance to the Académie de Saint-Luc. In 1776, she married the art dealer Jacques Lebrun. Summoned to Versailles in 1779 to paint Marie Antoinette, she became painter and friend to the queen. In 1783, backed by an official order from Louis XVI, Vigée-Lebrun was accepted as a member of France's Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as a painter of historical allegory, a category typically dominated by men. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Vigée-Lebrun fled to Italy and then traveled to Vienna, Berlin, Saint Petersburg, Dresden, and London, finding critical acclaim and aristocratic clientele in nearly every city. She returned to Paris in 1805.

Sophie Rude/Fremiet 19th century French female painter

Born: June 16, 1797 Died: December 4, 1867

Sophie Fremiet was a French painter. Born in Dijon, her father was the assistant curator of the city's museum, a patron of artists and a fervent Bonapartist. Sophie was taught by Anatole Devosge, a former pupil of Jacques-Louis David. 

Constance MAYER-LAMARTINIÈRE

(1774-1821)

Constance Mayer (1775-1821)

Aliases: Constance "la" Martinière; Marie Francoise Mayer; Marie-Françoise-Constance Mayer; Constance Mayer La Martinière; Marie Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière; Constance Meyer La Martinière; Marie Françoise Constance Meyer La Martinière

Paris, 1778 - Paris, 1821

French Female Painters - Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

 (French, 1749–1803)

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was first apprenticed to a miniaturist and later, in 1769, studied the art of pastel with Maurice Quentin de La Tour. The rich palette and fine detail in the present picture, one of the earliest of her major works in oils, reflect her earlier training. In 1783, when Labille-Guiard and Vigée Le Brun were admitted to the French Academy, the number of women artists eligible for membership was limited to four, and this painting, which was exhibited to an admiring audience at the Salon of 1785, has been interpreted as a propaganda piece, arguing for the place of women in the Academy. The artist's fashionable dress asserts her femininity; the feminist mood is emphasized by the presence of her pupils and the statue of the Vestal Virgin in the background. Labille-Guiard achieved a certain success at court and, having painted a number of portraits of the aunts of Louis XVI, came to be known as Peintre des Mesdames. However, she sympathized with the Revolution and, unlike Vigée Le Brun, remained in France throughout her life.

Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749–1803)
Oil on canvas

Portrait of François-André Vincent, painted in 1795 by Labille-Guiard, Musée du Louvre. They married in 1800.

Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun

(1755-1842)

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a French painter, and is recognized as the most important female painter of the 18th century. Her style is generally considered Rococo and shows interest in the subject of neoclassical painting

Self-portrait, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1782, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. She was a contemporary of Labille-Guiard and the two's works were often compared

Self-portrait





Self-portrait

















































Self-portrait




















Self-portrait with daughter







Self-portrait with daughter







Portrait of Marie Antoinette