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Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: The Odyssey of an Artist in an Age of Revolution
The story of Marie Antoinette’s portraitist, a remarkable woman living in dangerous times
The foremost woman artist of her age, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755—1842) exerted her considerable charm to become the friend, and then official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette. Though profitable, this role made Vigée Le Brun a public and controversial figure, and in 1789 it precipitated her exile. In a Europe torn by strife and revolution, she nevertheless managed to thrive as an independent, self-supporting artist, doggedly setting up studios in Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London. Long overlooked or dismissed, Vigée Le Brun’s portraits now hang in the Louvre, in a room of their own, as well as in all leading art museums of the world.
This gripping biography tells the story of a singularly gifted and high-spirited woman during the revolutionary era and explores the development and significance of her art. The book also recounts the public and private lives of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, connecting her with such personalities of her age as Catherine the Great, Napoleon, and Benjamin Franklin, and setting her experiences in the context of contemporary European politics and culture. A generous selection of illustrations, including sixteen of Vigée Le Brun’s portraits presented in full color, completes this exceptional volume.
The foremost woman artist of her age, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755—1842) exerted her considerable charm to become the friend, and then official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette. Though profitable, this role made Vigée Le Brun a public and controversial figure, and in 1789 it precipitated her exile. In a Europe torn by strife and revolution, she nevertheless managed to thrive as an independent, self-supporting artist, doggedly setting up studios in Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London. Long overlooked or dismissed, Vigée Le Brun’s portraits now hang in the Louvre, in a room of their own, as well as in all leading art museums of the world.
This gripping biography tells the story of a singularly gifted and high-spirited woman during the revolutionary era and explores the development and significance of her art. The book also recounts the public and private lives of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, connecting her with such personalities of her age as Catherine the Great, Napoleon, and Benjamin Franklin, and setting her experiences in the context of contemporary European politics and culture. A generous selection of illustrations, including sixteen of Vigée Le Brun’s portraits presented in full color, completes this exceptional volume.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 2, 2025
Gita May's biography of Vigée Le Brun is a concise introduction to the life of a remarkable artist, yet a narrative of this length, with little analysis, inevitably falls short in capturing the full complexity of her story. After all, Vigée Le Brun was not only a brilliant and innovative painter but also a figure deeply embedded in the cultural and social fabric of her time, interacting with many of the most fascinating personalities of her era. There is undoubtedly much more to explore and May's biography can and probably will be superseded.
One of the book's significant limitations is the almost exclusive reliance of Vigée Le Brun's 'Souvenirs' as the primary source for her life: whilst of course of significant value, it offers a biased perspective and leaves gaps. What did Vigée Le Brun's contemporaries write and think about her and her art?
That said, the biography does not purport to be more than what it is - a narrative work consciously rooted in the 'Souvenirs'. In this respect, May achieves her aim: she writes engagingly and the story moves at a brisk pace. Her expertise as a scholar of 18th-century France, particularly its literature, is evident in her contextual asides, which enrich the reader's understanding of the intellectual, and above all Rousseaunian, environment in which Vigée Le Brun operated.
On the other hand, the book's treatment of the art historical context is less robust, with May leaning too heavily on the opinions of Diderot, leading her to dismiss, for example, Jean Baptiste Marie Pierre, a technically brilliant and highly successful painter, as 'justifiably forgotten'.
One of the book's significant limitations is the almost exclusive reliance of Vigée Le Brun's 'Souvenirs' as the primary source for her life: whilst of course of significant value, it offers a biased perspective and leaves gaps. What did Vigée Le Brun's contemporaries write and think about her and her art?
That said, the biography does not purport to be more than what it is - a narrative work consciously rooted in the 'Souvenirs'. In this respect, May achieves her aim: she writes engagingly and the story moves at a brisk pace. Her expertise as a scholar of 18th-century France, particularly its literature, is evident in her contextual asides, which enrich the reader's understanding of the intellectual, and above all Rousseaunian, environment in which Vigée Le Brun operated.
On the other hand, the book's treatment of the art historical context is less robust, with May leaning too heavily on the opinions of Diderot, leading her to dismiss, for example, Jean Baptiste Marie Pierre, a technically brilliant and highly successful painter, as 'justifiably forgotten'.
February 27, 2015
This book is basically a summary of Le Brun's memoirs - some additional biographies are added about the people she met during her travels which are useful but overall I'd have to say this is a disappointing and rather superficial look at one of the major portrait artists of 18th century France. In many respects you would be better served reading Le Brun's memoirs directly than reading this book.
June 16, 2020
I'm a big fan of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, but this biography is a terrible representation of her life. The author not only continually repeats information, but she does so using the same phrases over & over again. She is constantly referring to Vigee-Lebrun's "Souvenirs" so, in a sense, the book is written about Souvenirs rather than Vigee-Lebrun herself. The author also contradicts herself. On one page she claims Vigee-Lebrun was surprised by the events of 1789, but on the very next pages she says that Vigee-Lebrun was depressed because she knew what was coming. This makes no sense! Worst of all, important information is left out. For example, the author states that Vigee-Lebrun & her daughter emigrate from France, but it doesn't give a date. I guess the reader is supposed to stop what they are doing & research information that the author should've provided in the book, thus eliminating any reason to read it in the 1st place.
September 3, 2008
A glittering biography of one of the foremost female painters of Pre-Revolutionary France who not only survived the Revolution, she also managed to thrive during and well after Napoleon's reign.
The author borrows liberally from Vigee Le Brun's memoirs which could be something of a let-down as the author makes little use of other sources. However, given the lack of historical sources, the author's knowledge of the period helps to make up for the unavoidable cribbing. So, for me at least, the book was less of a standard bio and more of an epic tale.
One minor annoyance was a seeming lack of editing. On more than one occasion, the author repeated herself in describing certain personnages, like Napolean. Meaning, she used the exact same wording for the third description as for the first. For a moment it almost seemed as if she didn't trust me, as a reader, to remember who these people were from one chapter to the next.
Still, overall, the book is a glorious survey of a tumultuous time in human history and a much needed lens on the life of an under-appreciated artist.
The author borrows liberally from Vigee Le Brun's memoirs which could be something of a let-down as the author makes little use of other sources. However, given the lack of historical sources, the author's knowledge of the period helps to make up for the unavoidable cribbing. So, for me at least, the book was less of a standard bio and more of an epic tale.
One minor annoyance was a seeming lack of editing. On more than one occasion, the author repeated herself in describing certain personnages, like Napolean. Meaning, she used the exact same wording for the third description as for the first. For a moment it almost seemed as if she didn't trust me, as a reader, to remember who these people were from one chapter to the next.
Still, overall, the book is a glorious survey of a tumultuous time in human history and a much needed lens on the life of an under-appreciated artist.
April 10, 2018
A disappointing biography considering that the amount of available source material. The idea of an artist's odyssey to escape the French Revolution comes across very superficially - there was so much more to cover here.
July 14, 2018
I really enjoyed this book about the adventurous life of ELISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN (17755-1842), the polyglot, well-travelled French artist, who painted the portraits of the nobility and high society in France, Italy, Russia and England during rather turbulent times!
September 3, 2020
A good introduction to the artist. It does make me want to read her memoirs.
February 14, 2022
Interesting but seemed rather repetitive considering the length of the book compared to the artists long and Interesting life.
September 23, 2011
Too easy, too quick. In other words, superficial. One reader found that the editing was terrible. And I agree. There are also repetitions, facts that are reiterated from one chapter to the next. Why? Was the book written in a rush?
I expected Yale University Press to publish more serious studies. Let's see: Vigée Lebrun lived in one of the most exciting times in history, a time of libertines but also of liberty being sketched out by Voltaire and Rousseau and then applied by the Fathers of the American Revolution which, in turn, inspired the French Revolution. The artist, albeit a Royalist, read Rousseau. She traveled and had a sense of adventure. She managed to live out of her art at a time when women were certainly not emancipated. And out of all that, Gita May manages to write a soporific portrait. I am under the impression that she wants her reader to believe that Vigée Le Brun was a goody two-shoes of sorts. Well, I don't believe it. I never met an artist who was one. And an artist living at the time of Casanova and libertines? A divorced woman?
All the ingredients for an exciting study are there. And yet it falls flat. The comments on Vigée Le Brun's paintings are unsophisticated. Very little is said about composition and technique.
When I fall on "Vigée Le Brun saw Benjamin Franklin on numerous occasions during his heyday in Paris in 1778, where he did much to gain French recognition of the American cause," I have read 200 out of 203 pages. And I think, that's it? That's all the relationship between Vigée le Brun and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence is going to get, one single sentence? Unfortunately, yes is the right answer to that last question.
I expected Yale University Press to publish more serious studies. Let's see: Vigée Lebrun lived in one of the most exciting times in history, a time of libertines but also of liberty being sketched out by Voltaire and Rousseau and then applied by the Fathers of the American Revolution which, in turn, inspired the French Revolution. The artist, albeit a Royalist, read Rousseau. She traveled and had a sense of adventure. She managed to live out of her art at a time when women were certainly not emancipated. And out of all that, Gita May manages to write a soporific portrait. I am under the impression that she wants her reader to believe that Vigée Le Brun was a goody two-shoes of sorts. Well, I don't believe it. I never met an artist who was one. And an artist living at the time of Casanova and libertines? A divorced woman?
All the ingredients for an exciting study are there. And yet it falls flat. The comments on Vigée Le Brun's paintings are unsophisticated. Very little is said about composition and technique.
When I fall on "Vigée Le Brun saw Benjamin Franklin on numerous occasions during his heyday in Paris in 1778, where he did much to gain French recognition of the American cause," I have read 200 out of 203 pages. And I think, that's it? That's all the relationship between Vigée le Brun and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence is going to get, one single sentence? Unfortunately, yes is the right answer to that last question.
August 19, 2009
Gita May’s biography is very well written and lively. I found it particularly engaging in that it features a woman who enjoyed a successful career during an era when most women were denied the opportunity to have one at all. As a court painter who traveled throughout her years of exile, Le Brun’s biography takes the reader on a tour of the courts of Europe and Russia during the Revolutionary era. A woman of contradictions, Le Brun was a strong Royalist and a fan of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This book also provides an introduction to the Philosophes.
March 18, 2016
I have to say it's not terribly well written - somewhat repetitive and the chronology is awkward at times. There are also odd things, for example we are only told on the last leg that Elisabeth was accompanied by her brother-in-law Auguste Riviere during her long exile and travels around Europe, yet this is presented as "accompanied by the ever loyal ....". And one of the detailed descriptions is of the wrong plate. A good copy editor would have solved a lot of these infelicities. But Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun was a fascinating woman, the book left me wanting to know more.
August 12, 2015
I've alway enjoyed the paintings of Vige Le Brun. Her self portrait is my favorite painting in the Kimball Art Museum collection. Therefore, I was interested in her life and times in which she lived - the monarchy of Louis the XV and Marie Antoinette, the French Revolution, the counter revolution etc.
I found the writing to be a bit dull and not as interesting as it might have been, but I'm glad I took the trouble to read it.
I found the writing to be a bit dull and not as interesting as it might have been, but I'm glad I took the trouble to read it.
August 12, 2010
A decent biography and overview of Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun, an artist who worked before and after the French Revolution. Beautiful reproductions of some of her paintings, and a well-written story.
For the longer review, please go here:
http://www0.epinions.com/review/Elisa...
For the longer review, please go here:
http://www0.epinions.com/review/Elisa...
May 24, 2015
4.5 Stars.
Nice, quick read on a woman who has done some of my favourite paintings and yet whom I knew little about. She seems to have lived an utterly fascinating life, travelling across Europe and rubbing elbows with some very famous names. It was a little repetitive at points, and seemed to rely on mostly one source, but I still enjoyed it a great deal.
Nice, quick read on a woman who has done some of my favourite paintings and yet whom I knew little about. She seems to have lived an utterly fascinating life, travelling across Europe and rubbing elbows with some very famous names. It was a little repetitive at points, and seemed to rely on mostly one source, but I still enjoyed it a great deal.
November 27, 2014
I agree with those who complained about the dreadful editing--surprising since it was published by Yale University. Nevertheless, May provided me with just what I Wanted--a brief life of an amazingly talented painter whose life spanned tumultuous periods in French history and who traveled to numerous countries including Tsarist Russia. I enjoyed it.
June 17, 2010
I have an older copy of this i bought on alibris ages ago. it's really wonderful; she was a remarkable woman.
October 6, 2013
Good content, but horrible writing and editing. So repetitive!
August 6, 2016
Am able biography but others are better. Plus the art itself in the book suffers from a pecuniary publisher.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews