Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Autoportrait

1790, Florence, Uffizien Corridor de Vasari?

Detail: L'artiste exécute un portrait de la reine Marie-

Antoinette

A favourite piece of many visitors is Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (also

referred to as Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun). A self-taught painter of

the neoclassical style, she was the favourite artist, and considered the

official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette, painting over 30 portraits of the

Queen and her family. Le Brun fled France at the time of the Revolution,

fleeing to Italy, Austria and Russia. An advantage of a self-portrait? Her

youthful face shows her younger than her real age (32 –35 years old

based on various reports) when she painted the portrait. The portrait

also caused a bit of a scandal, as she was smiling and open mouthed,

which was not the norm of the day.

Corridor Vasari