Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-LeBrun, a Rococo era painter turned Neoclassical, was born in Paris on April 16, 1755. She lived to be eighty—seven as “one of the foremost portraitists in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century and during the first three decades of the nineteenth.” (NGA, web) (May, 1) Spanning a long career with over 600 paintings, Vigée-LeBrun is “characterized” and marveled “…as the much sought-after portraitist of not only European royalty and nobility, but also of notable personalities in the arts and letters of her time.” (May, 1) Accomplishing an early start in her career, Vigée-LeBrun, at the age of fifteen was already supporting her recently widowed mother and younger brother through her portrait paintings. (NMWA, web) According
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Looking at the painting you are greeted with a caucasian woman in white flowing dress with fringes all delicately pained with high degree of skill. The ruffled areas of the dress around the bosom flowing around the shoulder and elbow are painted to show the transparent quality with golden fringes on the edges. With a golden bow tied across the back of the dress fading into the dark background, similar to the chiaroscuro effect used by many artists. The simplistic pose of Marie-Antoinette depicts her occupied by some flower arrangements she is tending to, and only glancing at the viewer for a moment . Although deliberately done, you get the sense that she just wants to tie a ribbon around her gently held bouquet. From the positioning of her body facing the corner of visible table on the right side of the painting with more flowers spread across. Looking at the gaze of the subject, you get a serene glazed eyes with a very polite smile. Almost intruding on her busy yet mundane bouquet of flowers she is most interested in getting tied with delicate hands and pinky finger gently protruding showing a decadence in her style. The way her pose, eyes, posture, and expression were all sending a subtle message to the viewer. “The beauty spots were even more eloquent and promising of delight: in the corner of the eye it was considered assassin, on the forehead it …show more content…
Vigée-LeBrun also received a lot of criticism for the painting of Marie-Antoinette while being displayed at the Salon. (Sheriff, 143) While the prominence of dreamy pastel colors, and ordinary depiction without extensive decorations became popular during this era. Especially during the new Monarch reign, which departed from the secular and even elaborate Baroque era. The simple dress the Queen is wearing would be viewed as inappropriate of the Nobility. Although the dress worn by the Queen Marie-Antoinette is expensive, fashionable, imported style from England, and sown by great dressmaker in Paris. Nevertheless, it was not considered for public meetings in the Queens Court and those with nobility status. “France, however, the formalities of the court made these styles less acceptable; for public appearances the robe en chemis was considered immodest, even though it revealed far less of the body than traditional court dresses with deeply scooped necklines.” (143) With a straw hat adorned by the Queen to complete this outfit, Marie-Antoinette is poised in a relaxed manner, in her everyday life. Without anything in the scene to allude to money, power, or status while the dress symbolized an everyday woman. “The style was immensely popular in England, where it made a fashion statement for the “natural woman,” suggesting simplicity and honest sentiment.” (143) The political climate would have
Looking at the painting you are greeted with a caucasian woman in white flowing dress with fringes all delicately pained with high degree of skill. The ruffled areas of the dress around the bosom flowing around the shoulder and elbow are painted to show the transparent quality with golden fringes on the edges. With a golden bow tied across the back of the dress fading into the dark background, similar to the chiaroscuro effect used by many artists. The simplistic pose of Marie-Antoinette depicts her occupied by some flower arrangements she is tending to, and only glancing at the viewer for a moment . Although deliberately done, you get the sense that she just wants to tie a ribbon around her gently held bouquet. From the positioning of her body facing the corner of visible table on the right side of the painting with more flowers spread across. Looking at the gaze of the subject, you get a serene glazed eyes with a very polite smile. Almost intruding on her busy yet mundane bouquet of flowers she is most interested in getting tied with delicate hands and pinky finger gently protruding showing a decadence in her style. The way her pose, eyes, posture, and expression were all sending a subtle message to the viewer. “The beauty spots were even more eloquent and promising of delight: in the corner of the eye it was considered assassin, on the forehead it …show more content…
Vigée-LeBrun also received a lot of criticism for the painting of Marie-Antoinette while being displayed at the Salon. (Sheriff, 143) While the prominence of dreamy pastel colors, and ordinary depiction without extensive decorations became popular during this era. Especially during the new Monarch reign, which departed from the secular and even elaborate Baroque era. The simple dress the Queen is wearing would be viewed as inappropriate of the Nobility. Although the dress worn by the Queen Marie-Antoinette is expensive, fashionable, imported style from England, and sown by great dressmaker in Paris. Nevertheless, it was not considered for public meetings in the Queens Court and those with nobility status. “France, however, the formalities of the court made these styles less acceptable; for public appearances the robe en chemis was considered immodest, even though it revealed far less of the body than traditional court dresses with deeply scooped necklines.” (143) With a straw hat adorned by the Queen to complete this outfit, Marie-Antoinette is poised in a relaxed manner, in her everyday life. Without anything in the scene to allude to money, power, or status while the dress symbolized an everyday woman. “The style was immensely popular in England, where it made a fashion statement for the “natural woman,” suggesting simplicity and honest sentiment.” (143) The political climate would have