The life and work of the artist Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Among the many names of famous painters who are on everyone's lips (Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh and others), there is the name of a woman who, perhaps, is not so popular now, but left behind a rich legacy from her canvases. And during the period of her life and the heyday of creativity, she was even a court artist! Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun is who we are talking about.

Early years

Marie Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun (then still simply Vigée) was born in 1755 in Paris, in the artist's family. The family was creative - Elizabeth's brother, Etienne, later became a writer, and a similar atmosphere of celebration, creativity, and entertainment reigned in their house throughout little Lizzy's childhood. Father Louis came from a simple working-class family, self-made, kind and cheerful person (unlike his wife Jeanne - grumpy and tough temper), and their house was always full of guests. What kind of people did not visit them! Elisabeth and Etienne had known Voltaire, Diderot, Greuze since childhood… Mother never participated in communicating with guests - she did not like her husband's lifestyle at all, and she wanted the children to behave the same way as she did. However, that the eldest daughter, that the youngest son went to the father.

From the age of six, Elisabeth Vigee became a pupil of a Catholic boarding school at the insistence of her mother. The girl was bored there, and instead of listening to the mentors, she drew in a notebook. Both her mother and teachers scolded her, only her father rejoiced when he learned that his beloved daughter had followed in his footsteps. Since that time, he decided to teach her painting, which he did, taking her away from the boarding house.

Career start

From the age of eight, young Lizzie diligently studied drawing under the strict guidance of her father and made progress. However, at the age of twelve, everything collapsed: his father died suddenly. Mother very soon found a new husband, a court jeweler. He was very rich, but, like his wife, he did not at all encourage his stepdaughter's hobbies. Elizabeth had a hard time, but she was lucky: two friends of her father agreed to give her free lessons and, having seen an undoubted talent in the girl, began to bother about exhibitions of her works. Soon cultural Paris was talking about a new rising star - the young Elisabeth Vigee.

From the age of fifteen, Elizabeth began to earn so much with her skill that she could fully support the well-being of the family. This changed the attitude towards her choice of both mother and stepfather - the latter became much friendlier and did not miss the opportunity to caress Lizzy. She dreamed of "flying out of the nest" as soon as possible.

Creative style

The paintings of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun from a young age were distinguished by an interesting feature: she, realizing early,that the rich love flattery, she was intensively engaged in painting precisely in this. Her work is somewhat theatrical, exaggerated, idealized. The people captured by her in the paintings appear in the most advantageous light. Of course, they could not help but fall in love with her for this, and as a teenager she earned the title of "talented portrait painter." In this manner, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun continued to write all her life.

Marriage

Elizabeth's dream of leaving her father's house came true when she was twenty: in 1775 she married Jean-Baptiste Lebrun. He was a businessman - he traded paintings and painted them himself, but he never became as popular as his wife. It cannot be said that Elizabeth loved her husband - she married him by calculation, knowing full well that this was her chance, firstly, to escape from home, where she could not endure the harassment of her stepfather, and secondly, to get profitable connections, because Lebrun knew many influential people.

Therefore, despite the fact that many acquaintances (including, by the way, her stepfather) dissuaded her from this marriage, telling a lot of not very good things about Lebrun (that he is a drunkard, a lover of women and gambling, which he has no willpower), she married him. And Lebrun, in any case, was glad to have such a beautiful wife - by the age of twenty, Elizabeth completely blossomed, turning into a young charming woman (her beauty is perfectly visible in self-portraits, of which she painted a lot).

The husband and wife maintained more of a partnership: he introduced her into the aristocratic circle of the highestelite”, where she found new clients. The artist painted diligently and earned more than her husband, whose business, to be honest, did not go uphill too much. The paintings of Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun became more and more popular, she was overgrown with customers, and the couple opened a private gallery where they exhibited their work. In addition to profitable clients, the portrait painter also found profitable patrons - she was patronized by the most noble houses.

Jeanne-Julie

After five years of marriage, the Lebruns had their first and only child, a daughter, Jeanne-Julie Louis. Elizabeth, who loved the baby more than anything in the world, called her simply Julie and did not let her go for a second. Her daughter was a real ray for her in a not very happy marriage - Elizabeth's relationship with her husband did not go well, becoming more and more cool day by day (after some time they even began to live separately).

And although at that time it was customary to hire governesses, Elizabeth spent all her time with the child and drew a lot of herself and her daughter together. The girl, by the way, was surprisingly similar to her mother and was not inferior to her in beauty, and having matured, she even surpassed her.

Marie Antoinette

Two years before the birth of her daughter in the life of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, an amazing event occurred that completely turned her life around - her acquaintance with Queen Marie Antoinette. The rumor about a talented portrait painter reached the court, and in 1778 Elizabeth was invited to Versailles to paint a portrait of the royal person. From the very first moment of meeting two girlsbecame close to each other - Marie Antoinette, brought to France from Austria, felt like a stranger in Paris and willingly succumbed to the flattery and compliments of Elizabeth, for whom, of course, the patronage of the crowned person was quite useful.

Thus began an amazing adventure in the life of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. She became the queen's new amusement, her entertainment, companion, favorite - you can call it whatever you like, the essence will remain the same. A year later, Marie Antoinette appointed the girl as the official court artist, but Elizabeth's duties were not limited to drawing: she walked with the queen, played the harpsichord, sang a duet, traveled - in general, she was with her almost inseparably.

For more than ten years of close friendship with Queen Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun painted more than thirty portraits of her. She portrayed Marie Antoinette alone, with children, in different halls and outfits, and, of course, a little more ideal than it really was. The queen enthusiastically accepted every work of the artist and in 1783 contributed to the fact that Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. This event gave rise to an unheard-of public outcry - after all, at that time it was not customary to admit women to such institutions (since they were taught to draw a person from a naked male nature). Nevertheless, with the help of Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth succeeded, and envy of her, already great, increased significantly. In addition to portraits of the queen, Elizabeth also painted other noble people close to the court - mostly women,with whom she felt more at ease.

The last portrait of Marie Antoinette by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun appeared in 1789, and in the same year the queen cooled towards her favorite. This happened through the efforts of one of Elizabeth's colleagues, who considered that she had taken her place at court. She spread gossip around Paris about Vigée-Lebrun's affair with the finance minister, as well as their fake correspondence, in which they allegedly mocked the queen. Marie Antoinette's pride was hurt and she didn't want to see Elisabeth again. It is not known what would have happened next if not for the well-known historical events - the Great French Revolution was approaching.

French Revolution

Having parted with Marie Antoinette in 1789, Elizabeth never saw her again - the queen died on the scaffold, as did some of the court ladies. The same fate would have awaited the artist herself, because she was the queen's favorite, but Elizabeth felt the danger in time and, wanting to save her daughter and herself, hastily left France. Leaving Paris, she could not even think that her "voyage" would drag on for eleven whole years.

The first country Elisabeth and Julie visited was Italy. After visiting Rome and Naples, having painted portraits of several noble persons there, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was about to return home, believing that everything had already calmed down. However, a surprise awaited her at home: the name of the artist was included in the list of counter-revolutionaries who were to be arrested and put on trial, which would ultimately mean death. That's whyreturn had to be delayed. So, with a visit to Austria, Elizabeth and Julie ended up in Russia.

Russia

The French artist lived in St. Petersburg for almost six years - from 1795 to 1801. And the country, and the city, and the Russian people made the most favorable impression on her, as she, being true to herself, testified in her diaries. But she was not received very well - to be more precise, Empress Catherine II received her like that.

Fame Elizabeth rolled ahead of her, and, having arrived in St. Petersburg, the artist quickly acquired orders. Clients vying with each other admired her, and Catherine also wanted to know why the Frenchwoman is so beautiful. She commissioned a portrait of her granddaughters Helena and Alexandra by Vigée-Lebrun. The work was completed on time, but the eminent customer did not like it at all. Brought up in a different spirit than Europeans who admire the idealized theatricality of the Rococo, Catherine preferred the Baroque and wanted to see the truth, not a "combed" picture. In the portrait of the girls by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, the empress, by her own admission, did not find any resemblance to the original, "neither taste nor nobility." In the future, Catherine spoke with contempt and indignation about the French artist, however, this did not really bother her - she already had plenty of orders.

During her stay in Russia, Elizabeth's daughter, Jeanne-Julie, got married and ran away from her mother, thereby repeating her own path. When Elizabeth was about to leave Russia, Julie and her husband were still there.

Return to France

WoFrance, meanwhile, "ball rules" Napoleon. He was more than cool about Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, and the high society had already managed to forget her during the time she was absent. There was no money, there was nowhere to live - the ex-husband (they divorced Jean-Baptiste shortly after Elizabeth and Julie left for Italy) took the house for himself. Therefore, the artist made the only right decision for herself - to leave again. This time the target was England, which Elizabeth fell in love with so much that she lived there for seven years.

She returned to France (this time forever) at the personal invitation of Napoleon, who suddenly remembered the former glory of Elizabeth. By that time she was already over fifty, and she could not work as quickly as before. And France was no longer what she remembered - according to Elizabeth's later confession, she never managed to accept and love her new country.

Shortly after returning to France, Julie arrived there with her husband. She began to live with her mother, but tragically died in 1813. With her departure, Elizabeth lost the meaning of life. Works by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun began to appear less and less, until, finally, the artist stopped writing altogether - first self-portraits, so beloved by her before, then everything else.

In 1842 Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun died at the age of 86. Only a few people saw her off on her last journey - all who remained from the former admirers of the portrait painter.

Interesting facts

1. I hated wigs to shiver, I didn’t wear them myself and at one time evenrefused to marry a man who wore a wig.
2. Called herself happy just standing at the easel.
3. Achieved such perfection that she could paint a beautiful portrait in two or three hours. As a result, the prices of her paintings were even higher than those of many famous artists of that era.
4. Some of her paintings are erroneously attributed to the brushes of other painters.
5. She kept diaries all her life, where she sang praises to almost everyone with whom she spoke.
6. She was the same age as Marie Antoinette.
7. The memoirs of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun were published in 1835 and later underwent several reprints.
8. According to the artist herself, she painted more than 660 portraits and 15 landscapes and historical subjects each in her life - about 700 works in total.
9. She was a member of eight Academies of Arts from different countries.

The life of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun is an example of the fate of many talented people who first gained great fame and greatness, and then slowly faded away alone. Fortunately for the artist, she, unlike a large number of her colleagues in misfortune, left behind a lot of works that are exhibited and appreciated by art lovers around the world to this day. And this is already a lot.