Vigée Le
Brun (VLB) master painting list, updated 10 April 2025
Please send questions, comments, additions,
corrections, etc. to Charles Stein via webform. Unless
otherwise cited, quotations of VLB are from The Memoirs of Elisabeth Vigée
Le Brun, translated by Siân Evans, Camden Press, 1989 (following
Charpentier’s 1869 edition, Paris).
Baillio (1982) refers to the exhibition catalog, Elisabeth Louise
Vigée Le Brun, 1755-1842, by Joseph Baillio, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort
Worth, Texas, 1982. Baillio (2015) refers to the catalog for the
exhibition held at the Louvre, while Baillio (2016) refers to the
catalog for the exhibitions held at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and
Ottawa's National Gallery of Canada. Mr. Baillio is the world’s leading
authority on Vigée Le Brun, and is preparing a catalogue raisonné. Biographical
information on many of the sitterqs was also provided by Dr. François Velde (Heraldica Web Site), and Olivier Blanc (an
author and specialist in French late 18th century and First Empire history, and
author of numerous books, including, “Portraits de femmes, artistes et modèles
à l'époque de Marie-Antoinette,” Paris, Didier Carpentier, 2006).
The hyperlinks generally connect to the
group-effort website, "The
Art of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun," which is administered by Kevin
Kelly. Many others have contributed to this research, for which we are
grateful, whether your name is mentioned or not!
The original paintings by VLB and other artists
mentioned herein are in the public domain, and case law in the United States
holds that faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art
are themselves in the public domain. This includes a reproduction in a
different medium, such as a photographic reproduction of an original painting,
pastel, or drawing. See Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp., 36 F.
Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999); L. Batlin & Son, Inc. v. Snyder, 536 F.2d
486, 491 (2d Cir. 1975) (en banc).
Index to Anchors within This Page, by City
and Year:
Paris: 1768-72 | 1773 | 1774
| 1775 | 1776 | 1777
| 1778 | 1779 | 1780
1781 | 1782 | 1783
| 1784 | 1785 | 1786
| 1787 | 1788 | 1789
Parma, Bologna, Turin and Florence: 1789 & 1792
Rome: 1789-90 and 1791-92
Naples: 1790-91
Venice: 1792
Vienna: 1792-95 (Paintings) | (Pastels)
St. Petersburg and Moscow: 1795-1801
Berlin: 1801
Dresden: 1801
Paris: 1801-03
London: 1803-05
Paris: 1805-42
Switzerland: 1807 & 1808
Miscellaneous Paintings Cited by VLB
Miscellaneous Entries
Paintings Determined Not to Be the Work of VLB
References
{"1 My mother in Sultan costume, large
pastel."} Jeanne Messin, born 27 September 1728 near Neufchateau in the
Vosges, married Vigée then Le Sèvre, she died Paris 1801. [Biographical
information from Olivier Blanc.]
ca. 1772 "Jeanne Vigée, the
Artist’s Mother, seen from behind," pastel, oval, unlocated. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 16 (b&w) {"1 The same, back
view."} [See related drawing, below.] [Attribution by Joseph Baillio.]
ca. 1772 "Standing Woman
Holding a Sheet of Music (The Artist’s Mother?)," red chalk, 5
7/8" x 9 1/2," signed lower right: E. L. Vigée. Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. Baillio (1982), p. 30 (b&w); L’Oeil, Jun/Jul
1983, p. 35. [The pose matches the head and shoulder position of the
preceding pastel.] See the Baillio (1982) description.
[Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for locating a color image.]
"Jeanne Vigée, the
Artist's Mother," pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists
Before 1800.
ca. 1772 "Believed to be
the Artist’s Mother," black chalk heightened with red chalk, 8
1/2" x 6 1/4."
1769? "Etienne Vigée, the
Artist’s Brother," oil on canvas, 24 1/4" x 19 7/8" (61.6 x
50.5 cm), signed and dated lower left: Mlle Vigée / 1773. St.
Louis Art Museum. Baillio (1982), p. 31 (b&w); The Sweetness of
Life (b&w); museum slide (color); Baillio (2015), p. 113
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 59 (color). Anonymous copy in National
Trust, Polesden Lacey, Dorking, Surrey. Other copies exist, one attributed to
Lépicié. Laurent Hugues, conservateur des musées de France alleges that the St.
Louis Art Museum version is a later signature copy, and that the original is in
a private Paris collection (which would explain VLB's listing of 1768-72,
whereas the St. Louis painting is dated 1773). {"2 My brother as a
schoolboy. One in oil, another in pastel."} [Per Baillio (1982),
this portrait was probably completed in 1769, but not signed and dated until
1773. Baillio quotes from her handwritten draft: "At thirteen and a half I
painted ...(my) third portrait ... after two of my brother." (Siân Evans’
translation reads "... at the age of fifteen and a half" - Letter I,
Note 3.)] Louis Jean Baptiste Etienne Vigée, 1758-1820. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
/p>
1769? "Etienne Vigée, the Artist’s
Brother," pastel, unlocated. {"2 My brother as a schoolboy. One in
oil, another in pastel."}
ca. 1765 "Etienne Vigée,
the Artist’s Brother," black chalk on laid paper, 8 1/4" x 5
1/8" (21 x 13 cm), private collection, signed bottom right: E. L. Vigée,
and inscribed bottom left: mon frère. Baillio (2016), p. 58.
ca. 1772-73 "Etienne Vigée,
the Artist’s Brother," black chalk on laid paper, 12 3/4" x 8
5/8" (32.5 x 21.8 cm), private collection, signed at bottom: dessin
d'aprés mon frère / E. L. Vigée. Baillio (2015), p. 112; Baillio
(2016), p. 60.
ca. 1772-73 “Young
Draftsman (possibly Etienne Vigée),” oil on canvas, 16 1/2" x 22
7/8" (42 x 58 cm), private collection. VLB Souvenirs 1755 -1842, Texte
établi, présenté et annoté par Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac (2008 Éditions
Champion, Paris) (black & white); Baillio (2016), p. 61 (color).
[Thanks to Jana Talkenberg for originally sending this image to us.] At one
time this work was attributed to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. Baillio
attributes this painting to VLB, and suggests that the sitter may have been her
brother.
ca. 1772-74 "Jacques François Le
Sèvre, Artist’s Step-Father," oil on canvas, 23 5/8" x 19
1/2" (60 x 49.5 cm), private collection. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jan 1982, p. 17 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 15 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 65 (color). {"1 M. Le Sèvre in nightcap and dressing
gown."} Lived 1724-1810, a jeweler. [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.] (Despite its listing in the 1768-72 section, Baillio (2016)
thinks a 1774 date is more likely.)
{"3 Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle
Bandelaire."}
“M Bandelaire,” pastel, Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 M. Bandelaire, a
pastel, half length."}
{"1 M. Vandergust."} Olivier Blanc
thinks Vandergucht may have been the correct spelling.
1772 "Mme
Mouchy-Pigalle," oval, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 18
(b&w). {"1 Mlle Pigale, the Queen’s milliner."} Elisabeth-Rosalie
Pigalle was raised by her relative, the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In
1764 she married Louis-Philippe Mouchy (1734-1801). Their daughter would marry
the engraver, Louis-Philibert Debucourt. (This listing is anachronistic:
Marie Antoinette married the Dauphin in 1770, but she didn’t become Queen until
her husband’s ascension to the throne in 1774.) [Attribution and biographical
information by Joseph Baillio.]
{"1 Her assistant."}
ca. 1769 “Jeanne Vigée, the
Artist’s Mother,” oil on canvas, oval, 25 5/8" x 21 1/4" (65 x 54
cm), private collection. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 16
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 111 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 63
(color). {"1 My mother in a white cloak; in oils."} {"This
portrait is an oval bust which I painted from life at the age of fifteen and a
half." - Letter I, note 3. [This quotation is from the Camden Press
edition of Souvenirs. However, Baillio (1982) quotes VLB from her
handwritten draft: "At thirteen and a half I painted the portrait of my
mother wearing a white pelisse."]} [Attribution by Joseph Baillio. Sold by
Christie's New York, 27 January 2000, Lot 68 for $134,500.] Baillio (2016)
considers the skill displayed by the painting to be such that it must have been
painted years later, 1774-78.
{"1 Mme Raffeneau."} Mme Raffeneau de
Lille, wife of a big Parisian notaire, or else Françoise Sophie, born 1727, the
wife of a Director des Aides régies par la ferme générale, femme de chambre de
Mesdames Sophie et Louise de France. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 La Baronne d’Esthal"} Presumably
the Baronne d’Estat, born Jeanne Louise Catherine Voidet, the daughter of Denis
Simon Voidet, avocat au Parlement and Catherine Charlotte Vernier. In 1752 she
married Joseph Dominique d’Estat de Bellecourt. After his death in 1766, she
became the mistress of Omer Louis François Joly De Fleury (1743-1784).
[Identified by Olivier Blanc]
ca. 1768-72 "The Children of the
Baronne d’Esthat," oil on canvas, oval, 28 1/4" x 23 1/8,"
Cailleux Collection. L’Oeil, 244:68, Nov 1975 (b&w); Baillio
(1982), p. 34 (b&w). {"2 Her two children."} Baillio dates
the painting ca. 1772, and doesn’t identify the sitters. Olivier Blanc makes a
good argument that the painting was done ca. 1768-69, and believes these to be
the children of the baronne d’Estat, by the prosecutor Omer Louis François Joly
De Fleury: Michel-Angélique d’Estat dit Bellecour, Baron d’Estat, born about
1762, and his sister Denise d’Estat born in 1764, future baronne Gothereau De
Billens. Both died at the guillotine in 1794. Or the girl may have been
another sister, Agathe Louise Marie de La Ferté, born circa January 1767, who
apparently died as a child (she was also a daughter of Joly De Fleury, but was
given a different last name on her baptismal records, to conceal her
illegitimate birth). Agathe appears on VLB’s list for 1779.
{"1 Mme d’Aguesseau with her dog."} Gabrielle-Anne
(elsewhere Pavant) de La Vieuville (1735-?), daughter of René-Jean-Baptiste,
marquis de La Vieuville and Anne-Charlotte de Creil. In 1760 she became the
third wife of Jean-Baptiste-Paulin d’Aguesseau de Fresnes, comte de
Campans (1702-84). [Identified by François Velde, with additional
information from Olivier Blanc.] VLB also painted her sister, Anne Geneviève,
listed two paragraphs below.
1772? {"1 Mme Suzanne."} {"I met a
friend of my mother’s, a Mme Suzanne..." - Letter III} Olivier Blanc
suggests this might have been the mother of François-Marie Suzanne, a sculptor
born in 1750.
{"1 Mme La Comtesse de la Vieuville."} Anne
Geneviève de La Vieuville, second daughter of René-Jean-Baptiste de La
Vieuville, baron d’Arzillières. She married her uncle, the count de La
Vieuville. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.] VLB also painted her sister,
Gabrielle-Anne, listed two paragraphs above.
{"1 M. Mousat."}
{"1 Mlle Mousat."}
{"1 Mlle Lespare."} Olivier Blanc
suggests this was probably "Lespart", a member of the Gramont family.
1770 "Mme Denis de Foissy,"
oil on panel. {"2 Mme de Fossy and her son."} Mme Denis De
Foissy, wife of Pierre De Foissy, receveur général des finances de Metz et
d’Alsace. She became the mistress of Le Peletier de Mortefontaine. VLB
lived on the same street as the sitter, whom she also painted in 1778. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
1774 "Vicomte de La Blache,"
oil on canvas, oval, 30 3/4" x 24 3/8" (78 x 62 cm), private
collection. Beaumarchais; ou, La calomnie, by Frédéric Grendel (Paris,
Flammarion [1973]); Baillio (2015), p. 116 (color). {"2 Vicomte
and Vicomtesse de la Blache."} Jean Falcoz de La Blache (28 December
1743-1821), called the marquis d'Haraucourt, was the son of comte André Laurent
Francois Falcoz de La Blache and Michèle Josèphe Marguerite de Roissy. On 3
March 1772, he married Catherine Le Roy de Senneville. The sitter's older
brother, Alexandre Joseph Falcoz de La Blache (1739-1799), was known as the
Comte de La Blache.
1774 "Vicomtesse de La
Blache," oil on canvas, oval, 30 3/4" x 24 3/8" (78 x 62
cm), private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 117 (color). {"2
Vicomte and Vicomtesse de la Blache."} Born Catherine Le Roy de
Senneville, on 3 March 1772 she married Jean Falcoz de La Blache.
{"1 Mlle Dorion."} Also listed for 1789.
[Olivier Blanc suggests this sitter may have been a relative of
Claude-Auguste-Nicolas Dorion, a poet opposed to the Revolution. He worked in
the department for foreign affairs.]
{"1 M. Tranchart."}
1771? "Count Alexey
Grigorievich Orlov-Chesmensky," 13 1/2" x 11," oil on
canvas, oil. Starye Gody, v. 3, plate following p. 120, 1910.
{"Several important figures from Russia came to see me; among others the
notorious Count Orloff, one of the assassins of Peter III. He was an enormous
man and I remember he wore a huge diamond on one finger." - Letter II.}
[Per Nikolenko, in addition to this bust, there is a full-length version. Jana
Talkenberg located a color
image of a variant in which the sitter is wearing military insignia.] Count
Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov-Chesmensky
(Алексей
Григорьевич
Орлов) (5 October [O.S. 24 September] 1737 – 5
January [O.S. 24 December 1807] 1808) was a son of Governor Grigory Ivanovich
Orlov (1685-1746) and Lusha Ivanovna Orlov, née Zinoviev (1710-?). In 1782, he
married Evdokia Nikolayevna Lopukhina (1761-1786). He was an uncle (by
marriage) to Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova (1777-1824),
whom VLB would later paint in St. Petersburg.
1771? {"Soon the Duchess [de Chartres] sent
for me to go and paint in her home." - Letter II} Louise Marie Adélaïde
de Penthièvre, Duchess de Chartres (and later Duchess d’Orléans), 1753-1821.
When her brother, the Prince de Lamballe, died in 1768, she became heiress to
France’s greatest fortune. As a result she was married in 1769 to her cousin Louis
Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793), Duc de Chartres
(1752), later Duc d’Orléans (1785), changed his name to Philippe Égalité
(1792). Their eldest son, Louis Philippe (1773-1850) would reign as King of
France from 1830-48. [Baillio doesn’t think this inclusion in Letter II is
proof of a portrait at this time. He thinks the first portrait was done only in
1778, as listed by VLB.]
1771? "Comtesse de Brionne," unlocated.
{"It was not very long before I received a visit from the great and
beautiful Comtesse de Brionne and her daughter, the Princesse de
Lorraine." - Letter II} Louise-Julie-Constance de Rohan, comtesse de
Brionne (1734-1815). She became chanoinesse [sequestered in a convent] of
Remiremont in 1742, at the age of 8! At the age of 14 she became the third wife
of the widower Charles-Louis comte de Lorraine-Brionne (1725-1761). They had
four children: Charles-Eugène de Lorraine-Brionne, prince of Lambesc and last
duc d’Elbeut (1751-1825); Marie-Josèphe Thérèse de Lorraine-Brionne, princess
of Elbeul (1753-1797) who in 1768 married Victor Emmanuel de Savoie-Carignano,
duc de Carignano [VLB painted her circa 1783-85]; Anne Charlotte,
princess of Lorraine-Brionne, later abbess of Remiremont (1755-1786); and
Joseph Marie de Lorraine-Brionne, prince of Vaudémont (1759-1812). After the
death of her husband, the sitter became a mistress of Choiseul, whom VLB
painted in 1773. For comparison, here is a sculpture
by Lemoyne. [Identified by Olivier Blanc]
1771? "Princess de Lorraine," unlocated.
{"It was not very long before I received a visit from the great and
beautiful Comtesse de Brionne and her daughter, the Princesse de Lorraine."
- Letter II} Anne-Charlotte de Lorraine-Brionne, later abbess of Remiremont
(1755-1786), the daughter of the previous sitter. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc]
1770 "Charles Antoine Etienne de
Choiseul-Beaupré" {"1 M. le Marquis de Choiseul."} {"You
can easily imagine how several young men might try to ingratiate themselves by
asking me to paint their portrait.... I painted them with ‘the lost look’; this
requires the subject to sit with his gaze facing away from the painter. .
." [Footnote:] "At that time, the Marquis de Choiseul was one of
these, which angered me because he had just married the prettiest person in the
world. She was called mademoiselle Rabi; she was American, sixteen years old. I
don't think we've ever seen anything more perfect." - Letter II} Charles
Antoine Etienne de Choiseul-Beaupré, seigneur de Sommeville, called marquis de
Choiseul-Beaupré, was born in Petite Anse, Saint Domingue (now Haiti) on 10
July 1739. He died on 13 April 1820. He was colonel à la suite du régiment
Dauphin (étranger) en 1763, puis lieutenant général. His parents were
Antoine-Nicolas de Choiseul-Beaupré (1716-1760) and Renée-Marie-Michelle Barbé
de Beauval (1718-1802). The sitter was married twice. On 11 August 1770, in the
parish of St. Eustace in Paris, he married Louise Raby, a daughter of
Jean-Baptiste Raby & Marthe Bourgeois. Tragically, she died in Paris on 24
October 1772, with her age given as 17. He married again, on 16 March 1775 at
St. Georges-sur-Loire, to Françoise Elizabeth Marie Joséphe Walsh (born at
Serrant and baptized at St. Georges-sur-Loire 15th October 1758), with whom he
had seven children. She died in 1793. Baillio (2016), p. 5 and 256
n.6 claims that an oil on canvas sold at Hôtel Drouot on November 17, 2004,
which had been identified as a 1775 portrait by Greuze of Renaud César de
Choiseul Praslin, is instead this VLB portrait of Charles Antoine Etienne de
Choiseul-Beaupré.
"Comte de Jaucourt"
{"1 Le Comte de Zanicourt."} Louis-Pierre de Jaucourt d’Espeuilles
(1726-1813), son of Pierre Antoine II de Jaucourt, baron d’Huban and
after 1765 marquis de Chantôme, and Marie-Suzanne de Vivans
(1702-1772). The sitter was maréchal de camp et armées du roi, chevalier
de Saint-Louis. He married Sophie Gilly (died 1774), a cousin of Mme Pérrégaux.
In 1777 he married again, to Elisabeth de Lachâtre. [Identification and
photo provided by Olivier Blanc. Corrections and additional information from
Thierry Depaulis.]
"A lady," oil on canvas, 32 1/4" x 23 1/4". Photo
from Witt Library. {"Also a large number of heads and copies from
Raphael, van Dyck, Rembrandt, etc."} Angela Demutskiy believes this is
a copy after Rembrandt.
1772? "Jeanne Baptiste Le
Moyne, the Sculptor," oil on canvas, 14 11/16" x 17 5/16"
(37.4 x 44.1 cm), Cleveland Museum of Art. Art in America, May 1966, p.
89, Museum website (color). {"Le Moine was an extremely down to earth
person ..." - Letter III} Jeanne Baptiste Le Moyne, 1704-78. VLB’s
portrait (an oil) is a copy of Quentin de La Tour’s pastel
(published by Geneviève Monnier, "Pastels XVIIe et XVIIIe
siècle", Paris, 1972, no. 76).
1772? "Jean Baptiste
Antoine Le Moyne," pastel, private collection. {Not listed or
mentioned by VLB}. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 19 (b&w);
Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press
2006); Dominique d'Arnoult, "Portraits au pastel par Jean-Baptiste
Perronneau, peintre du Roi. au Nationalmuseum de Stockholm," Art
Bulletin of Nationalmuseum de Stockholm 15 [2008], pp. 115-20. VLB listed
the above painting of the sculptor. She did not list a portrait of either of
his sons, though in the early 20th Century, this VLB pastel was identified as
the older son, Jean Baptiste Antoine Le Moyne (1742-1781), conseiller du
roi, lieutenant de l’amirauté à Port-au-Prince. In January 1982, Baillio
suggested that the sitter was the younger son, Pierre Hippolyte Le Moyne
(1748-1828). Jeffares and d'Arnoult are satisfied with the identification
of the sitter as the older son. In 1772, Antoine would have been 30, and Pierre
23.
177? "Count Alexander Sergeevich
Stroganov," unlocated. No reproduction known. {"...Count Stroganoff,
a genuine art lover, whose portrait I had painted in Paris when I was very
young." - Chap. XV} [For comparison, here is a portrait
by Alexander Roslin.] Alexander Sergeevich Stroganov (14 January [O.S. 3
January] 1733, Moscow - October 9 [O.S. 27 September] 1811, St. Petersburg),
was a son of baron Sergey Grigoryevich Stroganov (1707, Moscow - 11 October
[O.S. 30 September] 1756, St. Petersburgh) and Princess Sofia née Naryshkina
(1708-37). The sitter was a member of the Private Committee of Alexander I and
assistant to the Minister of the Interior, a longtime President of the Imperial
Academy of Arts, director of the Russian Imperial Library and a member of the
Russian Academy. In 1758, he married Countess Anna Mikhailovna Vorontsova (13
April 1743 - 21 February 1769), the only daughter of the State Chancellor,
though they had separated in November 1762. On July 27, 1769, he married
Princess Catherine Petrovna Troubetzkoy (1744-1815). The couple had two
children: Pavel Alexandrovich (June 7, 1772, Paris - June 10, 1817), and Sofia
Alexandrovna (1776-1794). However, the couple separated in 1779 and his wife
entered into an affair with Ivan Nikolaevich Rimsky-Korsakov (with whom she had
four more children). VLB also painted his son, Pavel Alexandrovich
Stroganov.
"Boatman
Pulling his Craft towards the Shore," pastel, 11.7” x 15.9”, not
signed or dated. Sold at auction by Oger-Semont, 19 March 2007, lot 13, $9,921.
[Baillio (1982), p. 39 states that VLB prepared a copy of a landscape by
Joseph Vernet, sold in the 1778 sale of Mme de Cossé.]
???? "Women Drawing Water From a Well,"
pastel? [Baillio (1982), p. 39 states that VLB prepared a copy of a
landscape by Joseph Vernet, sold in the 1778 sale of Mme de Cossé. Does he mean
the Vernet original was sold then, or the VLB copy?]
ca. 1771 "Portrait of a
Young Girl," pastel on blue paper, 15 3/8" x 11 3/8" (39 x
29 cm). Private collection. Pantheon, 10:235, Jul 1932; Die Kunst,
65:front, Aug 1932; Vigée Lebrun (2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN
9781785250729, p. 11 (color).
{"2 M. and Mme de Roissy."} Joseph
François Charles Michel De Roissy, seigneur de Dennemont-Follainville, born
3/8/1751 was colonel de cavalerie, Maréchal général des Logis et Armées du roi
(1779) then Maréchal de camp (1786). In 1771, he married Marie Félix d'Aulnoy
(see below). [Biographical information courtesy of Olivier Blanc.] See
below 1773 "Young man" for additional information.
{"2 M. and Mme de Roissy."}
{"It was at Le Moine’s house that I met Gerbier, the famous lawyer. His
daughter, Mme de Roissy, was outstandingly pretty..." - Letter III} Marie
Félix d'Aulnoy, daughter of Jean-Pierre Favre d'Aulnoy, trèsorier payeur près
la cour des aides de Clermont-Ferrand, and Marie Perpétue Martin. After her
father's death, her mother married Pierre Jean-Baptiste Gerbier De Massilaye De
Franville, châtelain d'Aulnoy, avocat au Parlement et conseiller de Monsieur,
king's brother. Mme de Roissy was "belle-fille" de Gerbier. In 1771,
she married M. de Roissy (see above). [Biographical information courtesy of
Olivier Blanc.] See below 1773 "Young woman" for additional information.
1773 “Young man,” pastel on paper, 19 5/8" x 19 1/4"
(50 x 49 cm), signed and dated lower left: Melle Vigée 1773. Auction
catalog for Sotheby's, Paris sale of 22 Jun 2010; Baillio (2015), p. 115
(color). In 2010, Sotheby's (based on Baillio's research) considered this
pastel and the one below to be a matched pair based on their identical size and
similar poses. VLB only listed one couple for 1773, and the woman's portrait
(below) appeared similar to a terracotta bust of Mme de Roissy by Jean-Baptiste
Le Moyne II (1704 -1778). Thus, Sotheby's considered the pastels to represent
M. and Mme. de Roissy. However, writing in Baillio (2015), Xavier Salmon
considers the poses too irregular to represent portraits, and thinks they were
instead studies. He also thinks the male sitter too young to be the 22 year old
M. de Roissy. Salmon suggests that the sitter was instead VLB's brother, Etienne,
finding similarities to the 1773 St. Louis Art Museum's portrait in oil of
Etienne. Angela Demutskiy agrees with Salmon that the sitter is Etienne.
1773 “Young woman,”
pastel on paper, 19 5/8" x 19 1/4" (50 x 49 cm), signed and dated
lower right: Melle Vigée 1773. Auction catalog for Sotheby's, Paris sale
of 22 Jun 2010; Baillio (2015), p. 114 (color). In 2010, Sotheby's
(based on Baillio's research) considered this pastel and the one above to be a
matched pair based on their identical size and similar poses. VLB only listed
one couple for 1773, and this pastel appeared similar to a terracotta bust of
Mme de Roissy by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne II (1704 -1778). Thus, Sotheby's
considered the pastels to represent M. and Mme. de Roissy. However, writing in Baillio
(2015), Xavier Salmon considers the poses too irregular to represent
portraits, and thinks they were instead studies. He also thinks the male sitter
(above) too young to be the 22 year old M. de Roissy. Salmon suggests that the
high cheekbones and narrow chin remind him of the sitter in the ca. 1776
drawing of VLB's maid (listed in the 1776 section, below). He suggests that the
young woman was in 1773 an employee of the artist's mother and stepfather, and
thus a ready model. Angela Demutskiy disagrees, noting that the sitter is
wearing a robe à la française of silk, which a maid from a wealthy employer
might wear, but not the maid of a stingy employer such as M. le Sevre.
1775 “Alexandre Jean
Baptiste Rouillé de Fontaine,” oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 21" (64.6
x 53.5 cm). Private collection, Paris. Vigée Lebrun (2015), Parkstone
Int'l, ISBN 9781785250729, p. 21 (color). {"1 M. de la
Fontaine."} The sitter was general quartermaster of cavalry,
seigneur de Goyencourt. He was the son of Michele Rouillé de Fontaine and
Angelique Elizabeth Sezille. On 2 December 1772, he married Claude Sophie
Caulet d’Hauteville (born 1753). Their son was Basile Gabriel Michel Rouillé de
Fontaine, seigneur de Goyencourt.
1776 “Claude Sophie
Rouillé de Fontaine,” oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 21" (64.9 x 53.4
cm). Private collection, Paris. Vigée Lebrun (2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN
9781785250729, p. 23 (color). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB.} The sitter
(1753- ), was the daughter of Pierre Nicolas Caulet d'Hauteville and Gabrielle
des Paillet. On 2 December 1772, she married Alexander Jean Baptiste Rouillé de
Fontaine. Their son was Basile Gabriel Michel Rouillé de Fontaine, seigneur de
Goyencourt.
{"1 M. le Comte Dubarry."} Jean-Baptiste
du Barry (1723-1794), later called comte de Cérès (nicknamed le Roués
"the Rake"). (He was technically never comte du Barry, but only a
chevalier, a lower rank, but called himself comte du Barry without
authorization.) [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"5 M. le Comte de Geoffré."} Jean-Baptiste-Joseph
Geoff Marquis de Chabrignac, born in 1739, was the son of Jacques-Claude
Geoffre of Château-Sarrazin and Suzanne Lambert Valerian. Brigadier in the
armies of the king, knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis. In
1770, he married Agnès Thérèse Sémen de Brémond (1749-1832) [whose sister
Marie-Louise was painted by VLB; see later this year]. The Marquis de
Chabrignac died in America in 1781, leaving a son, Jacques (1772-1858). [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. le Maréchal Comte de
Stainville."} Jacques de Choiseul-Stainville, comte de Stainville,
maréchal de France (?-1789). He married Thérèse de Clermont-Revel, whom he
later locked in a convent, after her affair with the comedian, Claival. The
couple had two daughters: the first, called "Mlle. de Choiseul" in
1778 married her cousin Claude Antoine de Choiseul Labaume (1760-?) -- they
wore the name Choiseul Stainville after their marriage, and had two sons; the
second daughter, called "Mlle. de Stainville", married Prince Joseph
de Monaco. The sitter’s older siblings were Étienne-François Choiseul, Comte de
Stainville, 1719-85, prime minister of Louis XV, and Béatrice de
Choiseul-Stanville, who became the duchess de Grammont. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc]
1773 "Mme de Bonneuil,"
pastel, 22 7/8" x 18 1/2" (58 cm x 47 cm), signed and dated, Mlle
Vigée / 1773. Photo located by Olivier Blanc. (Blue silk blouse, pink
jasmine). {"3 Mme de Bonneuil."} {"...the prettiest woman in
Paris..." - Letter III} Born Michelle Sentuary (March 1748) on Bourbon
Island, now Reunion Island, East Africa. She married Jean-Cyrille Guesnon de
Bonneuil in Bordeaux in January 1768. She was involved in espionage during the
emigration. She died in Paris, December 1829. [Identified by Olivier Blanc,
a biographer of Mme de Bonneuil and her family. Compare to the 1769 portrait
by Roslin.] VLB also painted the sitter’s sister, Mme Thilorier in 1773 (and
1778?), and her daughter, Laure de Bonneuil in 1805. Olivier Blanc suggests
that VLB may have also painted the sitter’s other sister, Mme Testart in 1773,
misspelling her name as "Mme Tétare".
1773 "Mme de Bonneuil,"
oil on canvas, oval, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen. {"3 Mme de
Bonneuil."} {"...the prettiest woman in Paris..." - Letter III}
This painting was at one time called Mme de Guiche, and then Baillio suggested
the sitter was the future Mdm Sanlot, a mistake which has been repeated by the
museum. Olivier Blanc discovered that this painting was restored in the 1930s,
with the face being overpainted as may be seen in this modern color photo.
With the overpainting, the face looks exactly like that of Mdm Sanlot (see
1776). However, based on the pre-restoration black and white, Olivier has
identified the sitter as Mme de Bonneuil. For comparison, see the 1769 portrait
of Mme de Bonneuil by Roslin, and a sculpture
of that sitter by LeMoyne.
{"1 Mme de Saint-Pays."} Perhaps Mme
de Saint-Paër, who had been the mistress of Louis-Alexandre-Stanislas de
Bourbon, Prince de Lamballe (died 1768). [Identified by Olivier Blanc]
{"1 Mme Paris"}
{"1 M. Perrin"}
{"2 Copy of [a portrait by another artist
of] the Marquis de Vérac."} Charles Olivier De Saint-Georges,
marquis de Véras, lieutenant général des Armées du Roi (1743-?). [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
ca. 1775 "Marie-Louise Sémen
de Brémond," oil on canvas, 76 x 62cm. {"1 An American
Lady."} Lived 1751-1825, daughter of Augustin Sémen de Brémond and
Marie Thérèse Rousseau de Bellecour. They family were very rich, owning
plantations in Saint-Domingo. The costume dates the painting to 1770-75,
before her 1779 wedding. Her husband, Jacques II du Puy de Montbrun, Lord of
Rochefort-en-Valsaín, was brigadier of cavalry, received the honors of the
court, was a knight of Saint-Louis and a Knight of Malta. He died in
Philadelphia (U.S.A.), in 1793. The attribution of the painting to VLB is by
Laurent Hugues, conservateur of French museums, in his book, "L’enfant
chéri", p.48. [Olivier Blanc suggests this sitter is the "American
Lady," and provided additional biographical information.]
"Mme Thilorier"{"1 Mme Thilorié,
half length."} Born Françoise-Augustine Sentuary in 1749 on Bourbon
Island (now Reunion Island, East Africa). In 1769 she married Jacques Thilorier
(1742-1783). In 1786, she remarried Jean-Jacques Duval d’ Eprémesnil. She was
decapitated in Paris on June 17, 1794 (her husband had been guillotined in
April 1794). [Here’s a 1769 pastel
by Perroneau.] She was the sister of Mme de Bonneuil, who was painted by VLB
earlier in 1773, and also a sister of Mme Testart, who may be the next name on
VLB’s list. [Biographical information courtesy of Olivier Blanc, who published
a study on the sitter in 1997, through the Paris publishing house of Perrin.]
VLB also painted the sitter in 1778 and her husband in 1777; we have images for
both of those paintings.
{"1 A copy of the same."}
{"1 Mme Tétare."} Olivier Blanc suggests
this is a misspelling for Mme Testart, the sister of the previous sitter, Mme
Thilorier, and also a sister to Mme de Bonneuil, listed earlier this year. Born
Marie-Catherine Sentuary on Bourbon Island in 1747, she married in 1767 to
Jean-Louis Testart (1744-1814). She died at a young age, in 1783.
{"1 Copy of [a portrait by another artist
of] the Bishop of Beauvais."}
{"1 M. de Vismes."} Alphonse de
Vismes de Saint-Alphonse, from Amiens, he would become fermier général in 1786.
Son of an employee of the administration of the Farms, he was fond of music and
painting. His sister, Adélaïde Suzanne de Vismes de Saint-Alphonse married Jean
Benjamin de Laborde. She was a friend of Mme du Barry and Sophie Arnould. In
1780, the queen created for her the charge of "dame du lit" in
Versailles. (A reference has also been found to a M. de Vismes du
Valgay, director of the Opera. It is unclear if this is the same man, or his
brother.) [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. Pernon."} Louis de Pernon ,
écuyer, conseiller du roy, Trésorier général, ancien des troupes de la Maison
du Roy et de l’ordinaire des guerres, demeurant rue de la Chaussée d’Antin,
died in 1795. (Probably the father of Laure Junot (1784-1838), duchesse
d’Abrantès who was fournisseur des armées pendant la guerre d’Amérique.)
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mlle Dupetitoire."} Oil painting,
approximately 50 x 100 cm. An engraving was reproduced in a 1937 book of
Admiral Bergasse Dupetit Thouars Aristide Aubert. Mary Magdalene, Suzanne
Aubert du Petit Thouars (1740-1823), chanoinesse du chapitre de Salles after
1784 or 1785. She never married. She lived in St Germain sur Vienne, but
occasionally visited Paris with one of her brothers. [Identified by
Emmanuel Brunet, Associate Professor of History and Geography, who is also
Deputy Mayor of St Martin de la Place, responsible for cultural issues, who
contacted Olivier Blanc with the information.] [We hope that the owner will
give permission for Olivier to examine and photograph the painting.]
{"1 Mlle Baillot."}
1773 “Young Boy Playing
with a Cup-and-Ball Game,” pastel, oval, 57.5 x 46.5 cm, signed and dated
lower left. Oger & Camper (Paris) auction of 11 December 2009. [Thanks to
Olivier Blanc for bringing this to our attention.] Angela Demutskiy wonders if
this could be Little Roissy, who appears second on the list for 1774. VLB had
painted a M. and Mme de Roissy in 1773.
ca. 1773 "Portrait of
an Artist," oil on canvas, 21 7/8" x 18 1/8" (55.6 x 46 cm).
Christie's Sale 11936 - Old Masters Part II (14 April 2016). The
identity of the sitter is not yet known.
1774 "? Abbé Giroux ?,"
unlocated, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 158 (b&w). {"1
L’Abbé Giroux."} This painting had been mistakenly attributed to Nattier.
Baillio attributed it to VLB, and suggested that the sitter was the Abbot
Giroux. [Attribution by Joseph Baillio.]
{"1 Little Roissy."} Perhaps the son
of M. and Mme de Roissy, whom appear at the top of VLB's list for 1773. Angela
Demutskiy suggests that this could be the pastel of a young boy playing with a
cup-and-ball game (which I showed at the end of the 1773 list, as the pastel is
dated 1773).
{"1 Copy of [a portrait by another artist
of] the Chancellor [d’Aguesseau]."} Henri-François Daguesseau,
1668-1751, one of the most distinguished magistrates of his time in France
(essentially minister of Justice).
{"1 Copy of [a portrait by another artist
of] M. de la Marche."} Either Douglas, comte de la March, who in
1778 would become Duke of Queensbury; or else the son of the Prince de Conti,
who was called comte de La Marche. [Researched by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Damerval."}Aglé Chol de
Clercy was born to Mme Chol de Clercy (née Charlotte Dupuy). While Charlotte
was married to Claude Chol de Clercy, Grand Prévôt de la Maréchaussée de Lyon,
she conducted an affair with the famous minister of Louis XV, Abbé Terray, and
it was Terray who was the natural father of Aglé. When Aglé was 12 years old,
she was married to an old count d'Amerval. After separating from the count, she
lived in the apartment of his sister, Baroness de La Garde, in the hotel of
Contrôle général des finances. (The Baroness was the new mistress of Terray.)
In 1771, after a financial scandal, Count d'Amerval and his sister Baroness de
La Garde were exiled to Lorraine, at which point the young Mme d'Amerval was
sent to the convent of Port-Royal. In 1774, she became the mistress of Count de
Langeac, whom VLB painted in 1775. Aglé became pregnant by Langeac. The sitter
died in Passay. VLB also lists this sitter in 1776, though that work may
simply be a copy of this one. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Le Comte de Brie," the painting is damaged and
requires restoration. {"1 Le Comte de Brie."} Joseph-Etienne,
comte de Brie-Serrant, married Marie Jeanne Bourgeois. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc, who also provided the image.]
{"1 Mme Maingat."} Julie de Barry de
La Roche du Rouzet (branche of the La Roche d’Auvergne), married Jean-Josselin
Maingard des Chasteliers, chevalier de saint-Louis (1759-?). [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme La Baronne de Lande."} Jeanne
de Montal, wife of Jean de Lande de Linieres. VLB may have painted this
sitter’s young granddaughter, Mlle Du Petit-Thouars, in the previous year.
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Le Normand."} Marie-Anne
Etiennette de Matha, born in Paris in 1737. She was received choriste à
l'Académie royale de musique (l'Opéra) when she began an affair with
Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Etioles, who was already married to Mme de
Pompadour, the royal favourite. In 1763, Mlle. Matha bought a mansion at rue du
Gros-Chenêt, n°34, in front of the house of Jean-Baptiste Le Brun (who would
marry VLB in 1775). His house had entrances both on rue de Cléry and rue du
Gros-Chenêt. After Mme de Pompadour's death in 1765, Mlle. Matha was able to
marry her lover, and they lived in the mansion. In 1774, they asked their young
neighbor, Mlle. Vigée, to paint a portrait of Mme Lenormant. The sitter died in
1809, some years after her husband. [Identification and information
courtesy of Olivier Blanc.] The sitter also appears on the list for 1777.
Helm's book describes one of the two paintings of this sitter as “Sitting,
elbow resting on a cushion. Holding a pamphlet. Muslin dress, sash.”
{"1 Mme de la Grange."} Angélique
Adélaïde de Meliand, daughter of Charles Blaise de Méliand, maître des requêtes
puis conseiller d’Etat, and Marie Louise Adélaïde du Quesnoy. On 5 January 1766
she married François Joseph Le Lièvre, marquis de Fourilles et de La Grange,
brigadier des Armées du roi et sous lieutenant de la compagnie des
mousquetaires. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.] She appears again on VLB’s
list in 1787.
{"1 M. Méraut."} M. Mérault de
Boinville de Chateaufort de Villeron. (Reference Boysse, abonnés de
l’Opéra). [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Vicomte de Boisjelin."} Gilles-Dominique
de Boisgelin, chevalier, titré vicomte de Boisgelin De Kerdu, Colonel de
Régiment de Béarn, Maréchal des Camps et Armées du Roi, married Marguerite
Laurens De Peyrolles. He was guillotined in 1794. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
{"1 M. de Saint-Malo."} M. Renard de
Saint-Malo. (Cf Palustre, notice généalogique sur les Renard de Saint-Malo,
Correspondance historique et archéologique, VI, 1899, p.34-37.) [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. Desmarets."} M. Desmarets,
comte de Maillebois, maréchal de France. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Comtesse d’Harcourt,"
oil, oval, signed lower right: Mlle Vigée. {"1 Mme La Comtesse
d’Harcourt."} Anne-Catherine D’Harcourt Beuvron (1750-?), daughter of
Anne-François d’Harcourt, marquis de Beuvron, and Marie-Catherine Rouillé. (She
was called "Melle d’Harcourt" before her marriage). In 1767 she
married her cousin, Charles, comte d’Harcourt D’Olonde (1743-?), Guidon des
gendarmes d’Orléans. [Identified and photo provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"2 Mlle de Saint-Brie and Mlle de
Sence."} The second sitter was probably Antoinette Françoise Nicole de
Sens, the daughter of a Procureur tiers référendaire au Parlement de Paris, who
later married M. Amyot. [Suggested by Olivier Blanc.]
"Comtesse de Gontault-Biron," pastel, private
collection. {"1 Mme la Comtesse de Gontault."} Françoise-Madeleine
de Preissac, daughter of marquis d’Esclignac, married comte de Gontaut-Biron. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc, who also provided the photograph.]
1774 "Marie-Louise-Adélaïde-Jacquette
de Robien," oil on canvas, 36" x 28 3/4" (91.5 x 73 cm),
signed and dated lower left: Mlle Vigée / 1774. Musée
Cognacq-Jay, Paris. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 20 (b&w); museum
postcard. {"1 Mlle Robin."} The daughter of Pierre Dumas de
Robien and Adélaïde Jeanne Claudine Le Prestere de Châteaugiron. Born in Rennes
in 1756, she married André Boniface Louis de Riquety, vicomte de Mirabeau,
youngest brother of famous orator Honoré gabriel de Mirabeau. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. de Borelly."} Horace de
Borély, son of Louis de Borély échevin de la ville de Marseille, born in 1734,
married 1773 with Catherine de Saurian, died in 1804. They had one child a girl
who married the marquis de Panisse. [Identified by Olivier Blanc]
"M. Duduit de Romanville." {"1 M.
de Momanville."}Perhaps M. Duduit de Romainville (ca. 1725-?),
chirurgien major du régiment des gardes françaises, et chirurgien consultant
des armées du roi. [Suggested by Olivier Blanc]
{"2 The Rossignol sisters, Americans."} Marie
Louise and Marie-Thérèse Rossignol de Vaudricourt, the daughters of Pierre
antoine Rossignol de Vaudricourt, commissaire de la Marine (ca. 1730-?). Marie
Louise died 13 July 1786. Marie-Thérèse married Bernard de La Marque, esquire,
surgeon of the king. They had a daughter, Aglaé, born in 1777. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
1774 "Madame De
Bellegarde," oil on canvas, 29 3/4" x 24 1/4," Antiques,
65:115, Feb 1954; Antiques, 70:15, Jul 1956. {"1 Mme. de
Belgarde."}{"The first person to visit me there [in Meudon] was the
Duchesse de Fleury, together with the Mmes de Bellegarde..." - Chap.
XXVIII} Marie-Charlotte Adélaïde d’Hervilly (ca. 1753-1776), wife of count
Robert Eugène Noyel de Bellegarde, 8th marquis des Marches, count d’Entremont
en Savoie, co-seigneur de la Vallée de Bozel en Tarentaise. Their daughters
were known for their beauty: Adélaïde Victoire (known as Adèle, born 1772)
married her cousin Frédéric de Bellegarde, divorced, and became the sitter for
David’s painting "The sabins"; Césarine Lucie (born 1774); and
Françoise Aurore Eléonore de Bellegarde (born 1776). The sitter died in
childbirth at the age of 23. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1774? "Pierre Louis Dumesnil, Rector of the
Académie de Saint Luc," unlocated ("now-lost" per Baillio
(2016) at 6). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de Saint Luc.] VLB’s
admission piece to the Académie de Saint Luc. This was the name (until 1776) of
the Parisian union of painters and sculptors, with well over a thousand
members.
1774 "Allegory of Poetry,"
oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25 5/8" (80 x 65 cm), signed and dated lower
left: Mlle Vigée / 1774, private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 131 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 67 (color). {Historical
Paintings: "1 Poetry, Painting and Music."} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de Saint Luc.] [Image initially
provided to VLB website by Olivier Blanc.]
1774 "Allegory of
Painting," oil on canvas, oval, signed: Mlle Vigée, Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 20 (b&w). {Historical Paintings: "1
Poetry, Painting and Music."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de Saint Luc.] [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.]
1774 "Allegory of Music," oil on canvas,
oval, unlocated. {Historical Paintings: "1 Poetry, Painting and Music."}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de
Saint Luc.]
1774 "Robert-Jacques
Benêt de Montcarville," oil on canvas, oval. Château Parentignat,
Auvergne, France. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 18 (b&w); museum
website (color). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} Robert Benêt de
Montcarville (1698-1771), issu de la noblesse de robe, le chevalier censeur
pour le Roi, the chair of astronomy and mathematics at the Collège de France.
1774? "M.*** Playing a Lyre," unlocated.
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de
Saint Luc.]
1774? "Pierre Fournier, official of the
Académie de Saint Luc," unlocated. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the Académie de
Saint Luc.]
1774? "M. Le Comte in His Study, with a globe
and books." [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at
the Académie de Saint Luc.] Sold at the Hôtel Drouot, June 3, 2004.
1774? "Mlle xxx," bust-length, oval,
pastel. [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the
Académie de Saint Luc.]
1774? Several unidentified portraits and studies
of heads. [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1774 at the
Académie de Saint Luc.]
c. 1774-75 "La vertu irrésolué,"
oil on canvas, 20" x 15 3/8", Burlington, Dec 1985, p. iv
(b&w); auctioned at Christie’s 23 May 2000 for $204,000.
1774 "Portrait of a
Young Woman," oil on canvas, 33 1/4" x 27 1/8" (84.5 x 69
cm), signed and dated lower left. [Image from auction house, provided by
Olivier Blanc.]
"Danaë, after Titian,"
oil on canvas, 39 3/4" x 24 3/8", (101 x 62 cm), private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 16 (color). Baillio notes that VLB's husband had one of Titian's
paintings of Danaë, and believes that VLB may have copied the one sold at Hôtel
Drouot on May 25, 2011.
ca. 1774 "Portrait of a Woman,"
pastel on paper, oval, 23 5/8" x 19 5/8" (60 x 50 cm), National
Museum of Art of Romania, museum
website. Thanks to Jana Talkenberg for spotting this pastel.
ca. 1774 "Portrait of a
Woman," oil on canvas, oval, 25 3/8" x 20 7/8" (64.5 x 53
cm), Cognacq Jay website. The website says it was previously attributed to
Drouais, but that Baillio says it is a VLB. The hairstyle, clothing, and pearl
choker are very similar to those of Comtesse d'Harcourt, above.
{"1 Mme de Monville with her child."}
Timothy F. Boettger suggests this is Marguerite Charlotte de Bonnechose
(?-1830). She married Thomas Boissel, écuyer, seigneur de Monville (1723,
Darnétal - after 1785), conseiller-secrétaire du roi (1762-85). She had a son,
Thomas Charles Gaston Boissel de Monville, baron de l'Empire (1763-1832), who
would marry Anne-Simone Sautereau (1760-?), and a daughter, Thérèse Charlotte
Boissel de Monville (?-1829), who married Michel Archange Duval du Manoir,
comte de l'Empire, chamberlain of Napoleon I.
{"1 Mme Denis"} {VLB mentions staying
with "the wife of Denis, the landscape painter," in Rome, in 1789-90.
- Chapter IV} VLB mentions two women named Denis in her Souvenirs, both in
Rome. She mentions staying at apartments owned by the landscape painter, Denis.
Olivier Blanc therefore suggests the sitter was Mme Denis de Saint-Robert,
married to Jacques Robert Denis. VLB also mentions that after many months
in Rome, she wanted to visit Naples, and was urged to be accompanied by M.
Duvivier, the husband of Voltaire's niece, the widow of M. Denis. This was Marie
Louise Mignot (8 February 1712, Paris - 20 August 1790, Paris), the daughter of
Catherine Arouet (1686–1726) and her husband Pierre-François Mignot (d. 1737).
In 1737, Voltaire provided her with a dowry that enabled her to marry army
supply officer Nicolas Charles Denis (d. 1744). After the death of the sitter's
husband, she became hostess and companion to her uncle, though they never
married. In 1780, two years after Voltaire's death, she married again, to
François Duvivier (1722-1802), commissaire des guerres. But VLB does not
discuss anything about either lady, or say that she had painted either one 15
years earlier.
1775 "Ivan Ivanovich
Shuvalov," oil on copper, 8 1/4" x 7 5/8" (21.1 x 19.4 cm),
signed and dated lower left: Mlle Vigée 1775, Radishchev
State Art Museum, Saratov. Baillio (2016), p. 197 (color). {"1 M.
le Comte [sic] de Chouvaloff."} {"...Count [sic]
Chouvaloff, the Grand Chamberlain; he was about sixty years old at the time [actually
he was 48 in 1775] and had been the lover of the Empress Elisabeth II [sic]
of Russia." - Letter II.} Ivan Ivanovitch Shuvalov
(Иван
Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg) was a son of Ivan "Menshoi"
Maksimovich Shuvalov (d. 1741, Moscow) and Tatiana Rodionovna-Khitrovo (d. 6
April 1756, Moscow). He was not a count, though his cousins Pyotr Ivanovich
Shuvalov and Aleksandr Ivanovich Shuvalov were; they assisted Elisabeth I of
Russia's ascent to the throne, and introduced Ivan to her. She became his last
favorite, and as Minister of Education, founded Moscow University and the
Russian Academy of Art. [The sitter of this painting was previously
misidentified as Prince Alexandre Alexeewitch Viazemski.] VLB painted a number
of the sitter's relative: (1) his niece, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina,
née Princess Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (2) his cousin, Countess Aleksandra Andreevna
von Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova, later Princess (8 December 1775 – 10
November 1847, Vienna); (3) his cousin, Princess Praskovya Andreevna Golitzyna,
née Countess Shuvalova (Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (4) his cousin, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (5) his cousin, Countess Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova
(1777-1824); (6) his cousin, Natalia Zakharovna Kolychёva, née Khitrovo
(1774-1803); and (7) his cousin, Field Marshal Count Ivan Petrovich Saltykov
(Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805).
"Comte de Langeac" {"1 M. le Comte
de Langeas."} Auguste Louis Joseph Fidèle Armand. He was born in 1748.
His mother, Madeleine de Cusac, first married M. Sabatini. She then married
comte de Langeac de Lespinasse, by whose name Auguste was known, though he is
actually the natural son of ministre La Vrillère, with whom Madeleine was
having an affair. The sitter became colonel d’infanterie, chevalier de l’Ordre
royal et militaire de Saint Louis, ancien capitaine des gardes de la porte de
Monsieur, promoted maréchal de camp in 1791, émigrated after Varennes. He is
known for his affair with countess de Neuilly. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Mongé."} Perhaps this is Marie
Adélaïde Deschamps, wife of Louis Monge, later (1808) chevalier de l'Empire
(1748-1827), professeur à l'école militaire de Metz and examinateur des
aspirants de marine. There is another listing for Mme Monge in 1778, which
could be the same sitter, or could be Marie Catherine Huart (?-1846) who in
1777 married Louis’s brother, Gaspard Monge (1746-1818), later (1808) comte
Monge de Péluse et de l'Empire, who was ministre de la marine in 1792.
(Suggested by Timothy F. Boettger.)
{"1 Mme Tabari."} The wife of
Paul-René Tabary, esquire, owner of the beautiful Hôtel Tabary, rue du Faubourg
Poissonnière n°36-38, which was designed by the famed architects Le Doux and Bélanger.
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme de Fougerait."} Olivier Blanc
suggested that Mme de Fougeret was the sitter in "Portrait de
femme a la rose dan les chevuex," oil on canvas, oval, 31.9” x
25.6”, auctioned by Cornette de Saint-Cyr, 10 December 1997, lot 96, $10,016,
and attributed to Angelica Kauffmann. Olivier's suggestion was based
on comparison to an engraving of Mme de Fougeret, done after the Terror, when
she turned to charity work. Olivier also suggested that the painting could be
by VLB's listed portrait of Mme de Fougerait, but others believe that the
attribution of the painting to Kauffmann is more likely. Charlotte
d’Outremont, daughter of a Conseiller au Grand Conseil, who in 1770 married
Jean de Fougeret (guillotined 1794), receveur général des Finances du comté de
Bourgogne. Owners of Chateau-Renard (Loiret) They had three daughters; one of
them, comtesse Angélique de Maussion (1772-1851), wrote Rescapés de
Thermidor.
{"1 Mme de Jumilhac."} Françoise
Pourcheresse D’Estrabonne, wife of Pierre Marie de La Chapelle de Jumilhac,
lieutenant général des Armées du Roi (1735-1798). They had a son who married
Simplicie de Richelieu. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 La Marquise de Roncherol."} Marie-Louise
Amelot de Chaillou (ca. 1734-?), wife of Claude-Thomas de Roncherolles, first
baron of Normandy, Lieutenant général.. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Le Prince de Rochefort."} {"The
supper parties at the Princesse de Rohan-Rochefort’s house were
delightful." - Letter III} Charles-Louis-Gaspard (1765-1843), son of
Charles-Armand, Prince de Rohan-Rochefort (1729-1811).
“Mlle. De
Rochefort, as Diane,” VLB Souvenirs 1755 -1842, Texte établi, présenté
et annoté par Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac (2008 Éditions Champion, Paris).
{"1 Mlle de Rochefort."} {"The supper parties at the Princesse
de Rohan-Rochefort’s house were delightful." - Letter III} [Thanks to Jana
Talkenberg for sending this image to us.] Charlotte-Louise-Dorothée
(1767-1842), daughter of Charles-Armand, Prince de Rohan-Rochefort (1729-1811).
1775 "Pierre Louis
Eveillard de Livois," pastel, Private Collection. L’Oeil, Jun
1993, p. 23 (b&w); Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 M. de Livoy."} Pierre-Louis Eveillard,
marquis de Livois (1736–1790), mécène et collectionneur.
{"1 Mme de Ronsy."} Mme de Roissy,
daughter of fermier général M. de Verdun
{"1 M. de Monville."} If related to
the listing earlier this year, "Mme. de Monville with her child,"
then the sitter may have been Thomas Boissel, écuyer, seigneur de Monville
(1723, Darnétal - after 1785), conseiller-secrétaire du roi (1762-85). Another
possibility appears in her in her memoirs:{"I often saw M. de Monville
there, a pleasant, elegant man, who took us to see a part of the countryside
known as ‘Le Desert’ and a house which was no more than a tower." - Letter
X} The M. de Monville mentioned in Letter X is certainly François Nicolas
Henri, Racine de Monville (4 October 1734-9 March 1797), French aristocrat,
musician, architect and landscape designer, best known for his French landscape
garden, Le Désert de Retz, which influenced Thomas Jefferson and other later
architects. Letter X takes place around 1782, when the column house at Désert
de Retz was completed. The earlier listing for "Mme. de Monville with her
child" could not be related to Racine de Monville, though, as he had no known
progeny, and as his wife, Aimable Charlotte Félicité Lucas de Boncourt, had
died in 1761.
{"1 Mlle de Cossé."} Adélaïde Pauline
Rosalie de Cosse Brissac, the daughter of Louis Hercule Timoléon, duc de Cossé
and Adélaide Dianne Délie Mancini, daughter of duke de Nivernois. In 1782 the
sitter married Victurnien Jean Baptiste De Rochechouart, duc de Mortemart. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
"Madame D’Augeard,"
oil on canvas, oval, 29" x 23 1/4". Photo from Witt Library.{"1
Mme Augeard."} Born Anne de Serre de Saint-Roman, married Mathieu
François Augeard. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Copy of Mme Damerval."} Mme
D’Amerval, see 1774. This painting may have been a copy of VLB’s portrait
of 1774, or could have been a copy after another artist.
{"1 Mme Deplan."}
1775 "Albin Louis Caze de
Méry," 25 1/8" x 20 7/8", private collection. {"1 M.
Caze."} Albin Louis Caze de Méry, 1751-1818, eldest son of Nicolas
Robert Caze (called M. de Juvencourt, Conseiller au Parlement de Paris,
Trésorier général des Postes et relais, fermier général) and his second wife,
Suzanne Felix Lescarmontier. This young man had three other brothers
(Alexandre-Louis, Alexandre-Noël and Anne-Claude). [Color photo and
biography provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. Goban."} Probably
Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Gobin, notaire rue Saint-Denis. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mlle de Rubec."} Françoise
Madeleine de Rabec, daughter of a director of the Compagnie des Indes, born
Saint-Malo 1758. She was married at 17. Upon being widowed, she remarried in
1778, at the age of 19, to le baron Pierre Paul de Kolly, fermier général, son
of a banker of the court, exécuteur testamentaire de samuel Bernard, the
richest man of France. Her husband was executed in May 1793, and she was sent
to the guillotine on 4 November 1793. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.] [For
comparison, see a portrait of the sitter that was published in Mme de
Kolly: Une Conspiration Politique et Financière by Edmond Seligman.]
{"1 Le Chevalier de Roncherol."}
{"1 Le Prince de Rohan, the elder."}Possibilities
include: (1) Jules-Henri-Mériadec, prince de Rohan, maréchal de France
(1726-88). However, VLB probably would have referred to his military title. (2)
His only son, Henri-Louis-Marie de Rohan, 1745-1809. At the time his title was
prince de Guéméné, but as VLB didn’t record her list until decades later, she
might have chosen to record him by the title prince de Rohan, which he
inherited in 1788. (3) The latter’s eldest son, Charles-Alain-Gabriel
(1764-1836). [If VLB had painted #3, as well as his youngest brother Jules
(listed below), it would seem odd that she wouldn’t also have painted and
listed the middle brother, Louis-Victor-Mériadec (1766-1846). Thus, #2 seems
most likely.]
"Prince Jules de Rohan," 19 x 15 cm,
sold in Paris Auction ca. 1986. {"1 Le Prince Jules de Rohan."} Jules-Armand-Louis
de Rohan-Guemenée (1768-1836), son of Henri-Louis- Marie de Rohan (1745-1809),
and grandson of Jules-Henri-Mériadec, prince de Rohan, maréchal de France
(1726-88).
{"1 M. Ducluzel."} François-Pierre du
Cluzel de la Chabrerie de Montpipeau, maître des requêtes. Lived 1734-83.
Intendant de la généralité de Tours, from 1766 to his death. His sister,
Charlotte du Cluzel, was married (in 1754) to Joseph Louis Le Pelletier de
Morfontaine, who commissioned a study of a head from VLB in 1781, and a cupid
in 1789. VLB painted this sitter’s daughter, Marie Thérèse du Cluzel, in 1779. For
comparison, here is a portrait by Alexander Roslin (provided by Charles Vatinel).
[Sitter identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"2 Le Comte and la Comtesse de
Cologand."} Louis Emmanuel de Coetlogon, lieutenant général des Armées
du Roi, décoré de l’Ordre national de Saint Louis. His wife, Melle Roy de
Vaquières (ca. 1747-?), comtesse de Coetlogon, dame pour accompagner the
countess d’Artois. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mlle Julie, who married Talma."} Louise-Julie
Carreau (1756-1815) would marry the tragic actor François-Joseph Talma in 1791;
they divorced 1801. A miniature,
possibly after VLB, has been located. Léon-Pascal Glain (ca. 1749-78) painted a
pastel
of the sitter. [Image provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Courville."} Anne-Henriette
Delattre D’Aubigny, married Georges-Firmin Gillet baron de Courville, mistress
of prince de Montbarrey. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme la Marquise de Gérac."} Born
Anne Josêphe Bonnier de La Mosson. In 1734 she married Michel Ferdinand
d’Albert d’Ailly duc de Picquigny, duc de Chaulnes. After being widowed, she
married Henri de Giac, called the marquis de Giac. She died in Paris in 1782.
(She was also painted by Nattier.) (Information from Olivier Blanc.)
{"1 Mme de Laborde."} Perhaps Rosalie
Claire Josephe de Nettine (1737-1815), the daughter of the Vicomte and
Victomtesse de Nettine, of Brussels. In 1760 she married Jean-Joseph de
Laborde, the court banker. Their children were Alexandre and Nathalie. Mme de
La Borde’s sister, Mme Micault d’Harvelay, married Calonne in England in 1787.
[Information from Olivier Blanc and Kevin Kelly.] Olivier also suggests this
could have been Adélaïde Suzanne de Vismes de Saint-Alphonse, who married
Jean Benjamin de Laborde. She was a friend of Mme du Barry and Sophie Arnould.
In 1780, the queen created for her the charge of "dame du lit" in
Versailles.
{"1 Mlle de Givris."} Perhaps a
sister of François Nicolas-Henri Le Sueur de Givry (married Sophie Lévêque de
Courmont in 1772) and Charles-Antoine Le Sueur de Givry (married Marie-Louise
Charlotte de Foucault de Coucy in 1767). Or if the sitter was a young girl, she
could have been a daughter of one of these brothers. Alternatively, the sitter
could have been a relative of Louis-Auguste Aubelin de Givry, chevalier de
malte. [Suggested by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mlle de Ganiselot."}
1775 "Jacques Louis Vézalay,"
oil on canvas, 30 3/4" x 25 1/2" (78.3 x 64.7 cm), private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 119 (color). {"1 M. de
Veselay."} Jacques Louis Guillaume Bouret de Vézalay (1733-1810), a
former treasurer general of artillery and engineering, who became a land
surveyor, acquiring vast landholdings that became new Parisian neighborhoods.
He was married in October 1765 to Marie Louise Corby d'Heurnonville (died
1827), whose portrait was painted by Alexandre Roslin.
1775 "André Cardinal de
Fleury," oil on canvas, 24 3/4" x 20-1/2" (63 x 52 cm),
Musée National du Château de Versailles. {"I painted portraits of Cardinal
Fleury and La Bruyère from contemporary engravings." - Letter III} André-Hercule
de Fleury, 1653-1742. Biography.
[Photo provided by Angela Demutskiy.]
1775 "Jean de La
Bruyère," oil, Musée National du Château de Versailles. New
International Illustrated Encyclopedia of Art, p. 4757. {"I painted
portraits of Cardinal Fleury and La Bruyère from contemporary
engravings." - Letter III}
???? "Young Nobleman,"
oil on canvas, 28 1/2" x 23 1/2", this image was found at the Witt
Library, attributed to VLB, and strikes me as being very similar to her
portrait (above) of Jean de La Bruyère, in terms of pose, wig style, clothing
style.
{"1 La Princesse de Craon."} Marie
Charlotte De Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Beauvau-Craon (1729-1807).
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Le Marquis de Chouart."} M
Chouart de Buzenval de Magny, a Receveur général des finances. He was married
to Sophie de Magny. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Le Prince de Montbarrey."} Alexandre
Marie Léonor de Saint-Mauris (alias Saint-Maurice), prince de Montbarrey
(1732-1796). Named Minister of War on 22 September 1777 by Louis XVI, but
resigned on 17 December 1780 following conflicts with Marie-Antoinette. He
emigrated in 1791. (Identified by Timothy F. Boettger.) VLB also painted
this sitter in 1779.
{"1 Le Baron Gros, painter, as a
child."} {"I had known Gros since he was barely seven years old when
I painted his portrait, and even then recognised the love of painting in that
child’s eyes and guessed he would one day be a great colorist." - Chap.
XXXIV} Antoine-Jean Gros, 1771-1835. For reference, here’s a painting
(not by VLB) of the sitter as a young man.
{"1 Mme Grant, later Princess de
Talleyrand."} This is a listing error on VLB’s part, as Mme Grand was
only 14 in 1776, and still living in India. See instead the listing for 1783.
{"1 Le Comte des Deux-Ponts."} Either
Count Wilhelm von Forbach, 1754-1807, or his brother Christian, 1752-1817. Both
were French officers of the regiment Royal Deux-Ponts that was established by
their father, Duke Christian IV von Zweibrucken, in 1775. (Both Zweibrucken and
Deux-Ponts mean "two bridges".) Their mother, Maryann Camasse, later
Countess von Forbach, had in her youth been a ballerina in the court of King
Louis the XIV. The regiment came to America in 1780 to take part in the
Revolutionary War. In October of 1781, while Alexander Hamilton stormed redoubt
# 10 at Yorktown, several French regiments under the command of Wilhelm stormed
redoubt # 9. The attack was successful and Cornwallis surrendered, effectively
ending the War.
{"1 Mme de Montbarrey."} Parfaite-Thais
de Mailly, daughter of Louis, count de Mailly, marquis de Nesles, and d’Anne
Françoise l’Arbaleste de Melun. In 1753 she married Prince Montbarrey
Saint-Maurice, minister of Louis XVI whose pastel portrait is at Versailles
(previously confused with Breteuil). [Identified by Olivier Blanc.] VLB
painted her sister, "Mme Davaray" [D’Avaray], in 1786.
{"1 A banker."}
{"2 M. and Mme Toullier."} For
comparison, here is a portrait of M. Toullier attributed to Van Loo. [Photo
provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"2 M. and Mme Toullier."} For
comparison, here is a portrait of Mme Toullier attributed to Van Loo. [Photo
provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 La Princesse d’Aremberg."} The
Comtesse de La Marck: Marie-Anne Françoise de Noailles, wife of the count de La
Marck, prince d’Arenberg. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. de Saint-Denis."}
"Comte de Provence," Unlocated.
{"12 Monsieur, the King’s brother."} Louis Stanislas Xavier
de France (17 November 1755, Palace of Versailles – 16 September 1824, Louvre
Palace), the Comte de Provence, later Louis XVIII. None of these paintings
have been located. It is unknown whether VLB was simply copying the work of
another artist, or whether she actually had a sitting with comte de Provence.
See the drawing listed next.
1777 "Comte de
Provence," black chalk, white chalk and traces of wash on buff paper,
14 3/4" x 11 1/2" (37.6 x 29 cm), inscribed: Monsieur / Mde
Le Brun 1777. Windsor, Royal Collection of Elizabeth II, Baillio (2015),
p. 38. As noted above, we do not know the location of any of VLB's 1776
portraits of comte de Provence. Perhaps this drawing was related. William
Pether prepared a mezzotint [plate size: 14 3/8 in. x 10 3/8 in. (366 mm x
265 mm); paper size: 15 1/2 in. x 11 3/8 in. (394 mm x 290 mm) paper size] of
VLB's painting, with Pether's mezzotint being published by John Boydell on 9
Nov. 1778. [Mezzotint source: National Portrait Gallery website.]
1777 "Comtesse de
Provence," black, white, and red chalk on paper, 15 1/8" x 11
3/8" (38.4 x 28.9 cm), inscribed: Madame / Mde Le Brun 1777.
Windsor, Royal Collection of Elizabeth II, Baillio (2015), p. 38. Marie
Joséphine Louise de Savoie, 1753-1810. Perhaps this drawing is related to
the 1778-listed portrait of Comtesse de Provence. William Pether prepared a mezzotint
[plate size: 14 3/8 in. x 10 3/8 in. (366 mm x 265 mm); paper size: 15 1/2 in.
x 11 3/8 in. (394 mm x 290 mm) paper size] of VLB's painting, with Pether's
mezzotint, being published by John Boydell on 9 Nov. 1778.
1776 "Pierre Valesque,"
31 1/2" x 26," Revue de l’Art, 47:46, 1980. {"2 M.
and Mme de Valesque."} [The pair of portraits was sold 3/31/1971 for
$10,750 by Rheims & Laurin, Paris.]
1776 "Margeurite
Monlong, wife of Pierre Valesque," 31 1/2" x 26," Revue
de l’Art, 47:46, 1980. {"2 M. and Mme de Valesque."} [The
pair of portraits was sold 3/31/1971 for $10,750 by Rheims & Laurin,
Paris.]
"Chevalier de Vauréal," unlocated. {"1 The young
Vaubal."} Olivier Blanc supplied this photograph, which was exhibited in
1925 as a portrait by VLB. The owner believed the sitter was the chevalier de
Vauréal, natural son of prince de Conti, who some years later married Julie
Ménars. Olivier notes that Vaubal is not a French name, and suspects that it is
a mistake for this sitter, Vauréal.
"Mme de
Lamoignon de Malesherbes," oil on canvas. {"1 Mme de
Lamoignon."} Pauline Francoise de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1758 –
1827), married to Charles Philippe Simon de Montboissier. -- This image and
the identification was found on the Internet by Jana Talkenberg. [Prior to the
location of the image, Olivier Blanc had thought that the sitter would be: Marie-Elisabeth
Berryer, daughter of Nicolas René Berryer, secrétaire d’étét au dépertement de
la Marine et de Catherine-Madeleine Jorts de Fribois. On 4 September 1758 she
married Chrétien François de Lamoignon, marquis de Bâville, baron de saint-Yon,
président à mortier au parlement de Paris, ministre de Louis XVI, Garde des
Sceaux from 1787-1788 (died 16 May 1789). He was a cousin of Lamoignon de
Malesherbes, the defender of Louis XVI. They owned the castle of Bâville.
We await confirmation from Olivier whether this image and proposed identity of
the sitter as Pauline Francoise de Lamoignon de Malesherbes is
reasonable.]
{"4 M. de Savalette."} Savalette de
Magnanville. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.] VLB also painted his son (1777,
"M. de Lange").
1776 "Prince of
Nassau-Siegen," oil on canvas, oval, 25 3/8" x 21 1/8" (64.4
x 53.5 cm), signed and dated lower left: Mde Vigée Le Brun / 1776.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. Baillio (1982), p. 36 (b&w); museum
slide; Baillio (2015), p. 121 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 69
(color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p.
91 (color). {"1 Le Prince de Nassau."} {"L’Abbé Giroux first
introduced me to the Prince de Nassau when he was very young and I, likewise,
was still unmarried; he asked me to paint his portrait, which I did, full
length but scaled down and in oil." - Pen Portraits} Karl Heinrich
Nikolaus Otto von Nassau-Siegen (5 January 1745, Senarpont, France - 10 April
1808, Tynna, Ukraine) was a son of Maximilien Guillaume Adolphe of
Nassau-Siegen (1722-1748) and his wife Amicie de Monchy (d. 1752). Maximilien
was a son of Charlotte de Mailly-Nesle (d. 1769), who had a rocky marriage with
Emmanuel of Nassau-Siegen (6 January 1688 - 1 August 1735), a member of the
Catholic branch of the House of Orange. Emmanuel originally recognized
Maximilien as his son, though at the end of his life rejected him as
illegitimate. The Aulic Council of the Holy Roman Empire declared Maximilien
illegitimate on 17 December 1744, at the urging of William IV, Prince of
Orange, and the decision was confirmed by Emperor Francis I on 15 October 1745.
A French court in 1756 posthumously recognized Maximilien as the legitimate son
of Emmanuel, and his son therefore styled himself Prince of Nassau-Siegen.
However, Nassau-Siegen was in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, which did
not change its stance, and Nassau-Siegen was inherited by a different branch of
the family. The sitter accompanied Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in his voyage
around the world, 1766-69, with the most memorable stop being in Tahiti,
discovered only 10 months earlier. On 14 September 1780, he married the Polish
countess Karolina Gozdzka (1747-1807), whose first marriage to Prince Janusz
Wladyslaw Sanguszko had been annulled in 1778. See the Baillio (1982)
description.
{"1 Mme de Brente."}
{"1 Lady Berkley."}
"Mme Sanlot," Musée promenade de Marly-le-Roi,
Louveciennes. {"1 Mme Saulot."} Born Marie-Rose Savalette de
Magnanville, she married Etienne René Agnan Sanlot, fermier général (tax
collector). They lived in Paris and château du Plessis near Blois. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
1776 “Mme Sanlot,” pastel on paper, oval, 28 3/4" x 22
3/4" (73 x 58 cm), signed and dated. Private collection. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Vigée Lebrun
(2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN 9781785250729, p. 29 (color).
"Countess Urszula
Potocka," oil on canvas, oval, 26 3/4" x 20 7/8" (68 x 52.8
cm). {"1 La Comtesse Potocka."} Christie's 11936: Old Masters-Part
II (14 April 2016). Christie's, relying on Baillio, identify the sitter as Urszula
Zamoyska (born ca. 1750; died ca. 1808-16), was a daughter of Jan Jakub Graf
Zamoyski (22 July 1716 – 10 February 1790) and his wife Ludwika Maria
Poniatowski (November 30, 1728 – February 10, 1781). The sitter was a
granddaughter of Stanislaw Poniatowski (September 15, 1676 – August 29, 1762)
and a niece of king Stanisław II August (17 January 1732 – 12 February
1798). She would first marry Wincenty Gawel Potocki (1740-1825), divorcing him
before 1781; there were no issue recorded from that marriage. She then married
Count Michal Jerzy Mniszech (1742-14 March 1806). One source shows
that she had four children with him, through the age of 48 (!): (1) Michael
Mniszech (1785-85); (2) Elżbieta "Izabella" Mniszech (5 August
1790-13 September 1852); (3) Carl Philip Mniszech (1794-1846); and (4) Paulina
Constance Mniszech (1798-1846). VLB would paint her daughter Elżbieta
in St. Petersburg. [An earlier identity had been proposed for this listing by Portrety
Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav
Wasylewski, 1927, p. 150-52, identifying Anna Teresa Potocka, née Ossolińska
(1746-after 1812), who in 1760 married Józef Potocki; they believe that
portrait was destroyed by fire in Baranow (Baronovichi?).]
{"2 Mme de Verdun."} {"...she was
my first friend, and remains to this day my closest..." - Pen Portraits} Anne
Catherine Le Preudhomme de Chatenoy, from the family de Lorraine. Daughter of
Nicolas François comte de Chatenoy and Françoise de Barbarat de Marizot. In
1777, she married Jean Jacques Marie Verdun (or de Verdun), fermier général
depuis 1781 and honorary superintendent of finances for comte d’Artois. {Biographical
information from Olivier Blanc.} VLB also lists portraits for this sitter for
1779, 1780, 1782, and this 1776 listing. Dorotheum suggested that some of the
later paintings were merely copies of an earlier portrait.
{"1 Mme de Montmorin."} Mme de
Montmorin Saint-Hérem (born Françoise-Gabrielle de Tane), daughter of Emmanuel
Frédéric de Tane. She was the wife of the ministry for foreign affairs, who was
himself killed in the September massacres of 1792. The sitter was dame pour
accompagner Madame Sophie de France. She was guillotined, with her son Calixte
de Montmorin. She also had two daughters (see next listing). For reference,
here is a portrait by Louis Tocque. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Her daughter."} The previous
sitter had two daughters. (a) Victoire Françoise de Montmorin (10 August
1765-July 1794), married comte César Guilaume de La Luzerne, with whom she had
two daughters, Aglaé (1786) and Camille (1788). She also had a daughter with M.
Trudaine. She was dame de compagnie of Madame Victoire, and died in prison
under the Terror. (b) Pauline de Montmorin Saint-Hérem (1768-?), married the
Comte de Beaumont ca. 1786. She appears on VLB’s list for 1788. She was
divorced 1800. At some point, she was a mistress of Chateaubriand. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
ca. 1776 "The Artist’s Maid,"
black chalk on cream-colored paper, 8 1/2" x 6 1/8" (21.7 x 15.6 cm);
inscribed lower left: Ma bonne, signed lower right: Vigée Le Brun. Musée
Carnavalet, Paris. Baillio (1982), p. 37; Baillio (2015), p. 209.
See the Baillio (1982) description.
1776 "Mme Saint-Gresse de
Mornay," pastel, signed and dated. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). [Not listed or mentioned by
VLB.] This painting was owned by the museum of Angoulême, France, and was
published in 1911. [Olivier Blanc provided this image.]
1776 "Son of Mme
Saint-Gresse de Mornay," pastel, signed and dated. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). [Not listed or mentioned
by VLB.] This painting was owned by the museum of Angoulême, France, and was
published in 1911. [Olivier Blanc provided this image.]
1776 "Hanriette de Barbentane,countess de
Vauban." [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] A copy of this painting is in
the castle of marquis de Barbentane, near Avignon. The sitter was the sister
of Aglaé de Barbentane, countess d’Hunolstein, whom VLB painted in 1777.
[Information courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
1776 "Mme d’Espeuilles,"
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. [where it is identified
as Mme de Espeveuil]. Photo from Witt Library [where it was identified as
Duchesse de Guiche]. Thais Simone Pauline de la Cour de Balleroy
(1/3/1755-Sept. 1806), daughter of Charles Auguste de la Cour marquis de
Balleroy and Adélaîde Elisabeth de Lépinau. In 1774, she married Etienne Vivans
de Jaucourt, vicomte de Jaucourt, marquis de Chantôme and baron d'Espeuilles.
(7/10/1727-1780). Their daughter Anne (the future duchess de Lorges-Civrac) was
born in 1775. [Not listed by VLB.] [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1776 "Pierre Louis Dubus," oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25
5/8" (80 x 65 cm), Paris Musée de la Comédie Francaise. Baillio (2015),
p. 120 (color). [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Pierre Louis Dubus, known
as Préville (19 September 1721, Paris - 18 December 1799, Beauvais). The
greatest French comedian of the 18th Century, is portrayed here in the role of
"Mascarille." Previously attributed to Carle van Loo, Baillio has
attributed the painting to VLB based in part on similarities to her 1776
portrait of the Prince of Nassau.
“Young Lady,”
pastel, oval, 28” x 23”, signed & dated at center right: Md Le Brun 1777.
Sold at Christie's on 9 Dec. 2009 for $50,656. [VLB has listed four women for
1777 that do not yet have images associated with them: Mme Perrin, Mme de
Beaudoin, Mme Le Normand, and Mme de la Fargue. Perhaps this is one of those
works (though sometimes VLB omitted a sitter from her list, or listed a
painting in the wrong year).] Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for locating this
image.
1777 "Portrait of a
Young Woman," oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 23 5/8" (73 x 60 cm).
Art News, 13 Jun 1936, p. 11; Beaux Arts, 3 Sep 1937, p. 5;
Auction catalog, Christie´s, Paris, June, 21, 2012. [VLB has listed four women
for 1777 that do not yet have images associated with them: Mme Perrin, Mme de
Beaudoin, Mme Le Normand, and Mme de la Fargue. Perhaps this is one of those works
(though sometimes VLB omitted a sitter from her list, or listed a painting in
the wrong year).]
{"1 Le Marquis de Crèvecoeur."} Charles-Hubert
de Levesquevin, marquis de Crèvecoeur (1740-?), son of Hubert de Levesquevin,
marquis de Crèvecoeur and Marie Thérèse Symon. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
"Baron de Pombal," unlocated. {"1
Le Baron de Vombal."} Dom Pedro Juan Sebastien de Silva Tavora, Ménézès
et Castro, Marquis de Pombal et d’Oragua, accédité ambassadeur de Portugal à la
cour de France in 1759. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Perrin."}
{"1 M. Oglovi."} Olivier Blanc suggests O’Gilvy
would be a more likely spelling.
{"1 M. Saint-Hubert."} M. Vassal de
Saint-Hubert, lived rue Blanche. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1772? "Countess
D’Hunolstein," pastel, oval, 28 3/4" x 22 7/8", Hôtel
Drouot, Paris, published in Portraits de femmes, by Olivier Blanc.
{"1 Mme de Nolstein."} Aglaé De Barbentane, Comtesse D’Hunolstein,
who became the mistress of La Fayette in 1780. [Image courtesy of Olivier
Blanc and Jana Talkenberg.] An image of a different sitter was also given this
identification; but that appears incorrect.
{"1 Mme de Beaudoin."} Mme Carre,
wife of Sylvain Raphaël Carré de Beaudouin, comte de Baudouin, maréchal de camp
des armées du roi. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Mademoiselle
‘Artois," oil on canvas, oval, 24 1/2" x 20 1/2". Collection
Marquis of Chaponay. {"2 Mlle Dartois."} The other copy was sold by
Parke Bernet, Oct. 22, 1970, estate of Irma N. Strauss. Perhaps Sophie
d’Artois (1776-1782), daughter of Charles Philippe, the Comte d’Artois
(1757-1836). He was the youngest brother of Louis XVI, and would become Charles
X (1824-30). -- However, there was a family called Dartois. One Mlle Dartois
married Jean-Etienne Le Sénéchal.
“Young Musician,” oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, scheduled for
auction in Paris ( Lot 29) on 7 April 2010. The text from the auction catalog
reads: “Portrait of a young musician, oil on canvas (lining; small
restorations), Signed middle left, Md Le Brun 1777. The label on the
reverse reads, 'Collection of Baron Arthur de Rothschild' with number
handwritten in ink 64. Wax seal with the arms of Baron Rothschild. Provenance:
Collection of Baron James de Rothschild, Paris, Galliera, Study & Laurentin
Rheims, Robert Lebel expert, 1 December 1966, No. 132 (reproduced).” The
catalog suggests that the sitter could be Dartois, perhaps assuming that
because of her youth she could not be one of the married ladies VLB lists for
this year. Thanks to Olivier Blanc for bringing this auction to our attention.
{"1 Mme Le Normand."} Also on the list
for 1774. See there for identification.
{"1 M. de Finnel."} Olivier Blanc
suggests that the sitter was one of several cousins, actually named Fumel.
Perhaps it was Philibert, marquis de Fumel, Gentilhomme de Monsieur, who in
1770 married Françoise d’Aldart and then in 1776 married Charlotte Henriette du
Tillet; or Joseph, marquis de Fumel, who married Elisabeth de Conty
d’Hargicourt; or Jean Joseph, marquis de Fumel who in 1763 married Marie Anne
d’Abzac.
{"1 M. de Lange."} Charles-Pierre-Paul
Savalette de Lange (1746-1797). Son of Savalette de Magnanville and Emilie Joly
de Choin, married (in 1791) Louise-Geneviève Hatry. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.] VLB also painted the sitter’s father the previous year.
1777 "Victoire de
Bavilliers, Comtesse de Bernon de Montélégier," oil on canvas, oval,
25-1/4" x 21-1/4," signed and dated lower right: Me Lebrun
/ 1777. Apollo, Apr 1995, p. 27. {"1 Mme de Montlegièts."}
[Improved photo from auction catalogue provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme de la Fargue."} Possibly Marie
Suzanne de Malabiou, who married Etienne de Malabiou de la Fargue, capitaine au
régiment de Pons, depuis Guyene, chevalier de l'ordre royal et militaire de
St-Louis. Or it might refer to the wife of their son, Florent de
Malabiou de la Fargue (?-1793), seigneur de Belvèze, lieutenant-colonel au
régiment de Guyenne, puis maréchal-des-camps et armées du roi, who married a
daughter (name unknown) of the Kérimel family of Brittany. (Suggested by
Timothy F. Boettger.)
Olivier Blanc questions whether pendant portraits
of a man
[*] and wife
[*], ca. 1777, attributed by Anne-Marie Passez to Labille Guiard, might
actually be by VLB. VLB lists two couples for 1778 for whom we don’t have
portraits.
1777 "Jacques Thilorier,"
oil on canvas, oval, 74 x 59 cm, signed and dated, Private Collection, France.
[Not listed by VLB, though she lists painting his wife.] Lived 1742-1783.
Conseiller au Parlement de Bordeaux puis Maître des Requêtes au Parlement de
Paris. This portrait was auctioned on December 14, 2004 in Paris Drouot.
[Information from Olivier Blanc.]
1777 "Allegory of Lady
as Diana," pastel, 24 5/8” x 21”, signed and dated. [Image provided by
Angela Demutskiy.] [Not listed by VLB, but referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de la Correspondance.] Sold by Christie's New
York, 24 January 21, lot 126 for $29, 375; auctioned again June 2004.
1777 "Mother and son,"
pastel, 36 5/8" x 43 3/4" (93 x 111 cm), signed and dated at
right: [...] / Le Brun / 1777. Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 201 (color).
ca. 1778 "Presumed Portrait
of the Duchesse De Chartres," oil on canvas, oval, 27" x 21"
(68.5 x 53.3 cm), Private collection. Baillio (1982), p. 38 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 149 (color). {"1 Mme la Duchesse de Chartres."} Louise
Marie Adélaïde de Penthièvre, Duchess de Chartres (and later Duchess
d’Orléans), 1753-1821. When her brother, the Prince de Lamballe, died in 1768,
she became heiress to France’s greatest fortune. As a result she was married in
1769 to her cousin Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November
1793), Duc de Chartres (1752), later Duc d’Orléans (1785), changed his name to Philippe
Égalité (1792). Their eldest son, Louis Philippe (1773-1850) would reign as
King of France from 1830-48. [Baillio thinks this was VLB’s first portrait
of this sitter, despite VLB’s mention of the sitter in Letter II, which covers
the time circa 1771.] See the Baillio (1982) description.
{"1 Mme de Teuilly."}Pauline Fortunée
Françoise de Blot de Chauvigny (1761-1829). Her father was Louis de Blot de
Chauvigny, baron de Vivier. Her mother was Marguerite de Champs, dame pour
accompagner the duchesse de Chartres, niece of countesse de Blot, born
Charpentier d'Ennery (herself a lady of duchesse de Chartres). In 1776 the
sitter married Antoine Charles Gabriel de Montessus de Rully (in French his
name is pronounced “Reuilly”), born in1755 in Rully (Bourgogne), chevalier de
Saint-Louis, died in 1790. After the marriage he never had any contacts with
his wife, they did not live together and she had no children with him. She had
a long relation with duke d'Aumont et de Piennes (who was already married to
Mélanie de Rochechouart, another sitter of VLB). After both count de Rully and
Mélanie de Rochechouart died in 1790 at the beginning of the Revolution,
Pauline de Blot de Chauvigny married duc d'Aumont in 1792. [Identification
and biography courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. de Saint-Priest, ambassador."}
Probably François Emmanuel (1735-?), ambassadeur en Suède puis à la Porte
(Turquie) since 1768. He was a counsellor of the king future Louis XVIII during
the emigration. He had a brother, Marie Joseph de Guignard de Saint-Priest,
conseiller en la Cour des Aydes de Montpellier, maître des Requêtes, Intendant
du Languedoc, married Melle de Ferrières. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"2 M. and Mme Dailly."} M. François
Dailly (ca. 1724-?) was directeur général des impositions et premier commis de
l’administration des finances. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"2 M. and Mme Domnival."}
{"1 Mme Monge."} VLB also listed a Mme
Monge for 1775. That sitter might have been Marie Adélaïde Deschamps, wife
of Louis Monge, later (1808) chevalier de l'Empire (1748-1827), professeur à
l'école militaire de Metz and examinateur des aspirants de marine. The same
sitter might be represented here, or this could be her sister-in-law, Marie
Catherine Huart (?-1846) who in 1777 married Louis’s brother, Gaspard Monge
(1746-1818), later (1808) comte Monge de Péluse et de l'Empire, who was
ministre de la marine in 1792. (Suggested by Timothy F. Boettger.)
{"1 Mme Dégeraudot."} Marie Chancey,
married Antoine, baron De Gerando, son of Antoine De Gerando (1739-1785)
conseiller secrétaire du roi en la cour des monnaies de Lyon et de Marie
Biclet. The sitter and her husband had two sons, one Antoine (1770-1823)
married Melle Barberi de Breccioldi; the other son, Joseph-Marie, married
Marie-Anne de Rathsamhausen (cousin of the duke of Wurtemberg and princess de
Hesse). In the 17th Century the name of this family was written
"Degérando". [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 M. le Marquis de Cossé."} Marquis
de Cossé-Brissac
{"1 Le Marquis d’Armaillé."} Either
Pierre-Ambroise de La Forest, marquis D’Armaille, or Louis André de La Forest,
marquis D’Armaille. [Suggested by Olivier Blanc.]
1778 "Louis-Hercule
Timoleon de Cossé, duc de Brissac," pastel, oval, very faint
signature. Brissac collection, Château de Brissac, France, Gazette des Beaux
Arts, Jan 1982, p. 21 (b&w); Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). [Another portrait of
the duc de Brissac appears on the website, but it might be the father of this
sitter, and it wasn’t painted by VLB, but by Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle,
according to research by Angela Demutskiy. {"1 Le Duc de Cossé."}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de la
Correspondance.] Born 1734, [actually became Duc in 1780 upon his father’s
death,] massacred at Versailles 9 Sept 1792. [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.]
{"1 Mlle de Ponse."} Augustine
Eléonore de Pons (1775-1843), daughter of viscount Charles-Armand Augustin,
vicomte de Pons, comte de Roquefort (called "l’arbitre des
élégances") and his wife, Pulchérie Elonore de Lannion. The girl grew up
to marry the marquis de Tourzel after the Revolution. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc, who suggests that an unidentified portrait
attributed to VLB may be the portrait of this sitter at age four.]
"Comte de Provence," {"1 Monsieur,
the King’s brother, for M. de Lévis."} Louis Stanislas Xavier de
France (17 November 1755, Palace of Versailles – 16 September 1824, Louvre
Palace), the Comte de Provence, later Louis XVIII. M. de Lévis was probably
Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis (1764-1830), or else his father, François-Gaston de
Lévis (1720-1787). The father was sous-lieutenant au régiment de la marine,
capitaine, aide-major, colonel, chevalier de Saint-Louis, brigadier-général et
commandant en second, commandant en chef, lieutenant-général, gouverneur de
l’Artois, maréchal de France et duc de Lévis. The comte de Provence at some
time developed a romantic interest in the younger Lévis, according to letters
that were published in "Souvenirs portraits du duc de Lévis, followed by
intimate letters from MONSIEUR, count of Provence, to the duke of Lévis, Paris,
Mercure de France, 1993." [Information courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme la Marquise de Montemey."} Anne
Therèse Bochart de Champigny (1741-?), daughter of Jean-Paul Bochart, maréchal
de camp, and Anne Henriette de Meuves. In 1769 she became the second wife of
Henri Louis Pompone, marquis de Montenay (1710-?), capitaine de cavalerie au
Régiment de la reine. They had a daughter in 1771. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
"Mme Denis de Foissy," pastel, 28 1/4" x 23",
photo from Witt Library; Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before
1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 Mme de Foissy."} Mme Denis De
Foissy, wife of Pierre De Foissy, receveur général des finances de Metz et
d’Alsace. She became the mistress of Le Peletier de Mortefontaine.
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Alexandre Brongniart," oval.
Circa 1786, this had been in the collection of Dumas Milne Edwards. {"2
Brongniart’s children."} Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847), son of
architect Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart (1739-1813) and his wife, Anne Louise
d'Égremont (1741-1829). Alexandre would marry Cécile Coquebert de Montbret. He
became an accomplished geologist, mineralogist, and chemist. He served as
director of the Sèvres porcelain factory from 1800, and was responsible for its
great fame. He also served as professor of mineralogy at the Museum of Natural
History in Paris from 1822-47, and made significant contributions to the study
of fossils. VLB would paint a third Brongniart sibling, Emilie, who was to
be born in 1780.
"Louise Brongniart" {"2
Brongniart's chidlren.} Louise Brongniart (1772-1845), daughter of architect
Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart (1739-1813) and his wife, Anne Louise d'Égremont
(1741-1829). Louise would marry the marquis de Dampierre. [We found an image that
was alleged to be Louise Brongniart, but do not believe that it is by VLB. We
also have an image called "Anatole
Brongniart". We are unsure of the identity of this sitter, as well as
the attribution to VLB.]
{"1 M. Rannomanoski."} Perhaps M. de
Rasonmoski, whose portrait by Augustin is in the Pierpont Morgan Collection. [Suggested
by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme de Rassy."} Mme de Rassy de
Bazoncourt, comtesse de Chenois. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1778 "Emilie de Coutances,
Marquise De Bec De Lievre," oil on canvas, 38 1/2" x 31
1/4." {"1 Mme la présidente de Bec de Lièvre."} The wife of
Hilarion-Anne-François-Philippe, marquis de Becdelièvre de Penhoët, premier
président de la Chambre des Comptes de Bretagne. They lived in Paris and in the
castle of Penhoët in Bretagne. [Sold by Sotheby’s on 10/13/1989 for
$15,000, and again in 10/94 for $36,000.] [Biographical information provided by
Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Copy of a portrait of the Queen."} [Baillio
(1982) mentions that VLB’s earliest commissions for the Queen’s Household
were to copy four existing portraits of the Queen by other artists; these
copies were actually painted between 1776 and 1777.]
"Comtesse de Provence". Unlocated.
{"2 Madame, the wife of Monsieur, the King’s brother."} Marie
Joséphine Louise de Savoie, 1753-1810. It is unknown whether VLB had a
sitting with the Comtesse at this point, or whether this was a copy of a
portrait by another painting. See also VLB's drawing of the Comtesse, discussed
in the 1776 section following the listing of "Monsieur, the King's
brother." Perhaps the drawing was related to this lost portrait.
{"1 Copy of portrait of Mme Dubarry."}
[Perhaps a copy of a portrait by François Hubert Drouais, whose paintings of
Mme Du Barry are well-known. James B. Musick, Bulletin of the City Art
Museum of Saint Louis, XXVI, No. 3, 1941, pp. 54-55, pointed out that VLB’s
portrait of her brother was very similar to Drouais’ 1760 portrait, "The
Young Pupil."] Jeanne Becu, born 1743. In 1763 she became the mistress
of Jean-Baptiste du Barry, and in 1768 she married his brother, Guillaume du
Barry, as she also became the last mistress of Louis XV. She was guillotined 8
Dec 1793.
{"1 Mlle Lamoignon."} In 1776, VLB
lists a Mme de Lamoignon, and Olivier Blanc identified her as Marie-Elisabeth
Berryer, who married M. Lamoignon, président de Basville, ministre de Louis
XVI. The couple had nine children, and it was considered possible that this
listing was for one of their daughters. A miniature of one of their
daughters has been discovered: she is Marie Louise Elisabeth de Lamoignon, who
was born in Paris on 3 October 1763. She would later marry François-Edouard
Molé comte de Champlâtreux, who was guillotined during the Terror. She died in
1820. She was the mother of the well-known politician, count Mathieu Molé.
[Miniature and biography courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
1778 "My head,"
oil on canvas, Galerie Cailleux, Paris. Signed & dated. L’Oeil,
398:63, Sep 1988. {"1 Self-portrait, head."} Another source called
this self-portrait "Couronnant l’Amour" ("Crowning the
Love").
{"1 Copy of a portrait [by another artist]
of Queen Marie-Antoinette for M. Boquet."}
1778 "Mme Thilorier,"
oil on canvas, 74 x 59 cm, oval, Private Collection, France. {"1 Mme
Filorier."} The sitter was Mme Thilorier, whom VLB painted in 1773,
where the name is given Thilorié. Born François-Augustine Sentuary in 1749 on
Bourbon Island (now Reunion Island, East Africa). In 1769 she married Jacques
Thilorier (1742-1783). In 1786, she married Jean-Jacques Duval d’ Eprémesnil.
She was decapitated in Paris on June 17, 1794 (her husband had been guillotined
in April 1794). She was the sister of Mme de Bonneuil, who was painted by
VLB in 1773, and also a sister of Mme Testart, who was probably also painted in
1773. [Identification and photo provided by Olivier Blanc, who published a
study on the sitter in 1997, through the Paris publishing house of Perrin.]
Compare to a 1769 pastel by Perroneau.
1778 "Joseph Vernet,"
oil on canvas, 36 1/4" x 28 3/8" (92 x 72 cm), signed and dated lower
right: Mde Le Brun f. 1778. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Antiques,
Jan 1968, p. 110 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 39 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 109 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 71 (color). {VLB
incorrectly listed this for 1789: "The portrait of Joseph Vernet, now in
the museum."} Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714-89. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
ca. 1778 "Henri-Louis Cain, the
Actor Lekain," oil on canvas, 24 1/2" x 22 1/4" oval,
Private collection, Baillio (1982), p. 40 (b&w). {"...the
notorious Lekain … frightened me with his gloomy, savage manner." - Letter
III, c. 1773} {"I remember the famous Le Kain vividly..." - Letter
VIII} Lived 1729-Feb 1778, so this was painted at the very end of his life,
if not posthumously (or VLB has put it in the wrong year). [Attribution by
Joseph Baillio.] See the Baillio (1982) description.
c. 1780 "Countess Valois
de Valmar," oil on canvas, 29 1/2" x 23 1/2." Photo from
Witt Library. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Jeanne de Saint-Rémy (22
July 1756, Fontette-23 August 1791, London), born to Jacques de Saint-Rémy de
Valois, chevalier, baron de Saint-Rémy (1717-62) and Marie Jossel (1726-69).
The family was recognized by the king and queen, and given the name and title
of "Valois," from the extinct line of baron de Valois, a bastard of
Henri II. On 5 June 1760, the sitter married Marc Antoine Nicolas, comte de la
Motte. She later became mistress to Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan. She
and the cardinal were behind the Necklace Affair that embarrassed Marie
Antoinette in 1785, so VLB may have intentionally her off the list of
paintings. Compare to this engraving of Comtesse de La Motte. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
{"1 Le Marquis de Vrague."}
"La Vicomtesse de
Virieu," oil on canvas, oval. {"1 Mme la Comtesse de
Virieux."} Photo from Witt Library. Claudine de Maleteste (ca.
1753-?) who received in 1780 les honneurs de la cour. She was dame pour
accompagner Mme Sophie de France. In 1773 she married Alexandre, vicomte de
Virieu-Beauvoir, Lieutenant général, premier Ecuyer de Monsieur frère du Roi. They
had two sons, Joseph Alexandre and Louis-Gustave de Virieu. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.] A rectangular version of this painting was sold by Christies as
the work of Antoinne Pesne (who died 1757); if that is correct, the oval is
neither a portrait of Virieu nor the work of VLB.
{"1 Mme la présidente Richard."} Claire
Charlotte Hocquart, wife of Frédéric Henri Richard, the président Richard.
(Douarche, procès civils"). [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme de Mongé."}
1778 "Marie Antoinette,
(wearing white satin "robe à paniers")," oil on canvas, 107
1/2" x 76" (273 x 193.5 cm). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Baillio
(2015), p. 151; Baillio (2016), p. 73 (color). There are 2 copies in
French state collection (one at Musée National du Château de Versailles - with the
queen’s head turned in the opposite direction from the original in Vienna), 1
went to American Congress (burned or looted on Aug. 24, 1814, when British
attacked the Capitol), 1 went to Catherine the Great (and now unknown). There
are two busts that were produced from the Versailles version (see eight
paragraphs below).{"1 Large portrait of the Queen, for the Empress of
Russia."} {"This [first] sitting produced that painting of her holding
a large basket, dressed in a gown of satin with a rose in one hand. It was
destined for her brother, the Emperor, Joseph II, and the Queen ordered two
copies, one for the Empress of Russia, the other for her apartments in
Versailles or Fontainebleau." - Letter V}
1778 "Queen
Marie-Antoinette," oil on canvas, Musée National du Château de
Versailles. {"2 Half-length portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette."}
{"2 Copies of the same."} Bust-length
copies are known; see the listing below Mme Dicbrie, below.
{"1 Mme de Savigny."} Olivier Blanc
suggests four possibilities: (1) Most likely, the wife of Louis-Benign de
Bertier de Sauvigny, intendant (governor) of Paris from 1776-1789. (Here’s
a portrait
by Drouais.) (2) Alternatively, his mother, the wife of Louis-Jean de
Bertier de Sauvigny, who had himself been intendant from 1744-1776. (3) Less
likely, Mme Chabenat de Bonneuil, vicomtesse de Savigny. (4) Also less likely,
Mme de Savigny, wife of Jean-Marc Conde de Savigny, commis au bureau du
directeur des Correspondances des Fermes (1785).
{"2 The same with her son."} Probably
the wife of Louis-Benign de Bertier de Sauvigny, and her son, Anne Pierre,
Vicomte de Bertier de Sauvigny (1770-1848). [By coincidence, his future
wife, Marie Renée Louise De Foucquet, would also be painted as a child by VLB,
in 1786.]
"Anne-François de
Lastic," pastel on paper mounted to canvas, oval, 29 1/8" x 23
5/8" (74 x 60 cm), collection of countess de Lastic, Château de
Parentignat (Lastic castle), Auvergne. {"2 M. and Mme de
Lastic."} Anne François de Lastic de Siejac (1759-1785), vicomte de
Murat, colonel du régiment de Beaujolais, son of François de Lastic and Anne
Charron de Ménars. [Identified by Olivier Blanc; image provided by Angela
Demutskiy.]
"Louise-Augustine de
Montesquiou-Fézensac," pastel on paper mounted to canvas, oval,
28" x 22 3/8" (71 x 57 cm), collection of countess de Lastic, Château
de Parentignat (Lastic castle), Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne, France. Baillio
(2015), p. 217 (color)(Cat. 86). {"2 M. and Mme de
Lastic."} Anne Louise Hyacinthe Augustine (18 August 1761, Paris - 18
September 1823, Château de Parentignat (Lastic castle). She was the daughter of
marquis Anne Élisabeth Pierre de Montesquiou Fézensac (17 October 1739, Paris -
30 December 1798, Paris), maréchal de Camp et député de la noblesse aux
Etats-Généraux, and his wife, Jeanne Marie Hocquart de Montfermeil (born 1743).
The sitter was dame d'honneur de Madame Elisabeth. She married on 3 February
1779 to Annet François V, Marquis de Lastic (1759-1783), an infantry captain in
the Beaujolais regiment. [Identification from Angela Demutskiy, with
additional biographical information from Olivier Blanc and improved image from
Jana Talkenberg.] Later this year, VLB listed “M. and Mme. De Montesquiou,”
generally believed to be the sitter's parents (who were properly Marquis &
Marquise de Montesquiou) or perhaps her younger brother and sister-in-law,
Henry de Montesquiou Fézensac, who were not titled at the time. In 1780, VLB
painted the sitter's husband. In 1782, VLB painted the sitter's brother and
sister-in-law, "Mme la Baronne de Montesquiou" and "Le Baron de
Montesquiou."
{"1 A Jewish woman for M. de Cossé."}
{"1 Mme Dicbrie."}
"Queen Marie Antoinette," private collection,
Paris. {"2 Copies of the busts of Marie-Antoinette."} This
painting came from the Orleans family collection at Eu castle. It is now in a
private collection in Paris. A photograph from September 2001, before its restoration, is
also available. [Photographed by Olivier Blanc.] Another copy, oil on
canvas, 39 3/8" x 31 1/2", Collection of Chateau de Breteuil, France.
Also, 1778 "Marie
Antoinette," oil on canvas, location unknown.
1779 "Comtesse du Cluzel",
oval, 66.5 x 54 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres. Color image courtesy of the
museum conservator, Mr. Claude Stephani, forwarded by Olivier Blanc. {"2
Mme Duclusel."}
1779 "Mme de Verdun,"
oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/8" x 22 7/8." B&w photo at Witt
Library; color photo located on Internet by Jana Talkenberg. {"1 Mme de
Verdun."} Anne Catherine Le Preudhomme de Chatenoy, from the family de
Lorraine. Daughter of Nicolas François comte de Chatenoy and Françoise de
Barbarat de Marizot. In 1777, she married Jean Jacques Marie Verdun (or de
Verdun), fermier général depuis 1781 and honorary superintendent of finances
for comte d’Artois. {Biographical information from Olivier Blanc.} VLB also
lists portraits for this sitter for 1776, 1780, 1782, and this 1779 listing.
Dorotheum suggested that some of the later paintings were merely copies of an
earlier portrait.
{"1 Comte de Dorsen the younger."}
{"2 M. and Mme de Montesquiou."}
{"It was while I was at Maupertius [sic], both pregnant and in pain, that
I painted his portrait, but I have never been completely happy with it." -
Letter IX} Marquis Anne Élisabeth Pierre de Montesquiou Fézensac (17 October
1739, Paris - 30 December 1798, Paris), maréchal de Camp et député de la
noblesse aux Etats-Généraux. He was the son of Pierre de Montesquiou
(1687-1754), seigneur de Mauperthuis, lieutenant-général des Armées du roi, and
his wife Gertrude Marie-Louise Bombarde de Beaulieu. The marquis had inherited
the estate of Mauperthuis. In 1760, the marquis married Jeanne Marie Hocquart
de Montfermeil (born 1743), a daughter of fermier général Jean Hyacinthe
Hocquart de Montfermeil and his wife, Marie Anne Gaillard de la Bouëxière de
gagny. They had three children, a daughter Anne-Louise (whom VLB listed earlier
this year), a son Anne Élizabeth Pierre de Montesquiou-Fezensac (whom VLB lists
in 1782), and a son Henri (1768-1844) (whom VLB does not list).
{"1 Portrait of the Queen for M. de
Sartines."} VLB's client was probably Antoine Raymond Jean Gualbert
Gabriel de Sartine, comte d'Alby (12 July 1729, Barcelona – 7 September 1801,
Tarragona), who served as judge, head of the Paris police, and from 1774 the
Naval Secretary.
{"1 Mme de Palerme."} The wife of
Simon Zacharie de Palerne de Chaintré de Savy. They lived on rue Montmarte.
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 A young American boy."}
1779 "Mlle de la Ferté,"
pastel, oval, 61 x 53 cm. This painting had belonged to the David-Weill
collection in France, but during World War II was looted by the Einsatzstab
Reichsleiter Rosenberg and transported to Germany; its current location is
unknown. {"1 Mlle de la Ferté."} Agathe Louise Marie de La Ferté,
born in Paris 4 January 1767. She was declared the daughter of Paul de La Ferté
and Louise-Henriette Helnaut, though she was actually the natural daughter
of Omer Louis François Joly de Fleury and Jeanne Louise Catherine Voidet,
baronne d’Estat. [Biographical information and photo provided by Olivier
Blanc.]
{"1 A bowed head for M. de Cossé."}
1779 "Louis Philippe, duc
d'Orleans," pastel on paper mounted on canvas, oval, 31 1/2" x 24
3/8" (80 x 62 cm). Private Collection. Baillio (2015), p. 212
(color). {"1 Monseigneur le Duc d’Orléans."} {"In 1782 [sic], I
spent some time at Raincy having been invited by the Duc d’Orléans, father of
Philippe-Egalité, to paint portraits of Mme de Montesson and himself." -
Letter IX -- (VLB later says she was close to her first confinement, so this
was late 1779 or very early 1780.)} Louis Philippe d'Orléans (12 May 1725,
Versailles - 18 November 1785, Sainte-Assise). As the only son of Louis
d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife Johanna of Baden-Baden, he was titled
Duke of Chartres at birth. On 17 December 1743, he married his cousin, Louise
Henriette de Bourbon-Conti (1726–9 February 1759). They had three children: (i)
a daughter (July 1745, Château de Saint-Cloud – 14 December 1745, Château de
Saint-Cloud); (ii) Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (Château de Saint-Cloud, 13
April 1747 – executed 6 November 1793, Paris), Duc de Chartres (1752), later
Duc d’Orléans (1785), changed his name to Philippe Égalité (1792); and (iii)
Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans (9 July 1750, Château de Saint-Cloud –
10 January 1822, Paris). Following the death of the sitter's wife, he had a
number of mistresses, including Étiennette Le Marquis, with whom he had three
children: (i) Louis Étienne d'Orléans, (21 January 1759 – 24 July 1825),
Count-abbé of Saint-Phar; (ii) Louis Philippe d'Orléans, (7 July 1761 – 13 June
1829), Count-abbé of Saint-Albin; and (iii) Marie Étiennette Perrine
d'Auvilliers, (7 July 1761 -?), who married François-Constantin, Count of
Brossard, a dragoon regiment officer. In July 1766, the sitter met marquise de
Montesson (see next entry). Following the death of her husband in 1769, he sought
to marry her, but Louis XV initially denied permission, as the sitter's eldest
son was opposed. The king finally consented in December 1772, with the
condition that the marriage would be a morganatic wedding, such that the
Marquise of Montesson would never become Duchess of Orléans or succeed to any
other Orléans titles. The couple wed on 23 April 1773 at Chaussee d'Antin. See
also the below listing "2 Copies of Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans,"
and the related discussion showing there were actually at least three (and most
likely four) signature copies.
"Marquise de Montesson," pastel on paper
mounted on canvas, oval, approximately 31 1/2" x 24 3/8" (80 x 62
cm). Unlocated. {"1 Mme la Marquise de Montesson."} {"In 1782 [sic],
I spent some time at Raincy having been invited by the Duc d’Orléans, father of
Philippe-Egalité, to paint portraits of Mme de Montesson and himself." -
Letter IX -- (VLB later says she was close to her first confinement, so this
was late 1779 or very early 1780.)} Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de
Riou (4 October 1738, Paris – 6 February 1806) was married on 11 October 1757
to a seventy-year-old widower, Jean Baptiste, Marquis of Montesson (1687-1769).
In July 1766, she met Louis Philippe, duc d'Orléans, who sought to marry her
after her husband's death in 1769. They finally gained consent from Louis XV to
marry with the condition that it be a morganatic wedding (i.e., no title for
her). They married on 23 April 1773 at Chaussee d'Antin. VLB prepared a
"copy of Mme
la Marquise de Montesson," pastel, oval, 31 1/2" x 24
3/4" (80 x 63 cm), originally intended for the duc's chamberlain, marquis
de Roncherolles, the copy being acquired by the Louvre in 2014. Baillio
(2015) , p. 215 (color). [There were also many copies by others of VLB's
portrait and copy of Mme de Montesson. Marie-Amélie of France commissioned
Eugène Goyet to paint a copy after VLB, which is at Versailles. (Olivier Blanc
provided this photograph.) Olivier also located an engraving after
VLB. Jana Talkenberg provided yet another copy after VLB,
by Joseph Albrier (1791-1863), oil on canvas, 45 x 30 cm, prepared in 1840 from
a painting from Tripier-Lefranc which was believed to be by VLB. [See also a
related pastiche, wrongly called Lady
Blessington.]
{"2 Copies of Monseigneur le Duc
d’Orléans."} A document conserved at Fondation Custodia in Paris, together
with additional information, allowed Xavier Salmon in Baillio (2015), p.
214 to conclude that VLB was paid to prepare seven paintings of the duc
d’Orléans and marquise de Montesson, including two original pastels prepared
from sittings, listed above, and five copies. The copies generally show the
face to be well executed, though less care is taken with regard to the
clothing. The copies were: (1) copy of Mme de Montesson, discussed in previous
listing. (2) "copy of Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans," pastel on
paper mounted on canvas, oval, 31 1/2" x 24" (80.1 x 60.9 cm),
originally intended for the duc's chamberlain, marquis de Roncherolles, which
was acquired by the Louvre in 2014. This copy only shows the insignia of
Saint-Esprit, omitting the insignias of the Saint-Esprit (Holy Spirit), and the
Toison d’or (Golden Fleece). Baillio (1982), p. 38 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 213 (color). (3) "copy of Louis
Philippe, Duc d’Orléans," oil on canvas, oval, 31 7/8" x 25
3/8" (81 x 64.5 cm). Versailles. Baillio (2015), p. 214 (color).
VLB shows the three insignias from the formal portrait: the Saint-Esprit (Holy
Spirit), la Toison d’or (Golden Fleece) and Saint-Louis. Baillio (2015), p. 213
(color). (4) "copy of Louis Philippe, Duc d’Orléans," oil on canvas,
oval, 28 3/8" x 22 7/8" (72 x 58 cm). Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 214 (color). VLB shows the three insignias from the formal
portrait: the Saint-Esprit (Holy Spirit), la Toison d’or (Golden Fleece) and
Saint-Louis. Baillio (2015), p. 213 (color). (5) a smaller unlocated oil copy,
most likely of the duc.
{"2 Copies of the large portrait of Queen
Marie Antoinette for M. and Mme de Vergennes."}
{"1 Mme de Vannes."} Louis de
Carmontelle made a portrait of this lady.
"Mme la Comtesse de Tournon," unlocated.
{"1 Mme la Comtesse de Tournon."} Rose Marie Hélène de Tournon,
younger cousin of prince de Soubise. In 1778 she was widowed when her first
husband, Comte Adolphe du Barry (see VLB’s list for 1773), was killed in a
duel. She then married a cousin who shared her maiden name, M. de Tournon,
marquis de Claveyron. She died in 1785. [Identified by Olivier Blanc, who
also provided an engraving
after VLB’s painting.]
1779 "Alexandre
Marie Leonor de Saint-Mauris, prince de Montbarrey," pastel, oval, 32
1/4" x 24 3/8" (80.3 x 64.2 cm). Musée National du Château de
Versailles, L’Oeil, Jun 1993; Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio (2015), P. 214
(color). {"1 Le Prince de Montbarrey."} VLB also painted this sitter
in 1776, perhaps in oil.
1779 "Innocence Taking
Refuge in the Arms of Justice," pastel, Musée d’Angers. {Historical
Paintings: "1 Innocence takes refuge in the arms of Justice."}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de la
Correspondance.] Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for locating a color image.
1779? "Head of a Woman." [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1779 at the Salon de la Correspondance.]
1779 "Baron de Breteuil,"
oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/4" x 22 7/8", Musée National du Château de
Versailles. [In 1789, VLB lists a large portrait of Marie Antoinette that she
executed for the Baron de Breteuil. However, she didn’t list or mention a
portrait of him.]
177? "Rose Bertin,"
oil on canvas, oval, 25 1/2" x 21 1/2" (65 x 54 cm), signed at left: LeBrun.
Photo from Audap & Mirabaud auction house, which offered the painting
for sale on November 21, 2014. Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin (1747-1813)
was a French milliner, recommended to Marie Antoinette by princess de
Conti and princess de Lamballe. [Biographical information courtesy of Olivier
Blanc.]
1780 "Marie Françoise
Lesould," oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/4" x 23 1/4" (73 x 59
cm), signed at right: Mde Le Brun / 1780. Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Orléans. {"1 Mme Lessout."} Baillio (2015), p. 125
(color). Marie Françoise Lesould (1751-28 July 1810, Paris) was the youngest
of four daughters of Jean-Baptiste Louis Devilly Démarchais, inspector of
wines, and his wife, Marie Nicole Dubrayl (d. 1778). In 1767, she married an
attorney, Robert Marlot André (1730-1768), bearing him a son. After she was
widowed, she remarried, in 1772, to Alexis Lesould (d. 1812), a merchant of
fabric and lace.
{"1 Large picture of Marie-Antoinette."}
The Katalog der Gemäldegalerie "Porträtgalerie zur Geschichte
Österreichs von 1400 bis 1800," Wien 1982, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
reports that this is oil on canvas, 273 x 193.5 cm, inscribed Peint par Mde
le Brun agée de 22 ans, en 1780. The picture was painted in 1778 and sent
in February 1779 to Vienna. She painted two copies that are in Versailles, and
smaller replicas are in the museums of Troyes and Dijon and in an American
private collection. The original sketch for this painting is in a private
collection as well.
{"1 The same."}
{"4 Mme de Verdun, her mother, her
sister-in-law and her husband."} {"The day my daughter was born [Feb
1780]...my oldest friend, Mme de Verdun, came to see me in the morning." -
Letter IV} Anne Catherine Le Preudhomme de Chatenoy, from the family de
Lorraine. Daughter of Nicolas François comte de Chatenoy and Françoise de
Barbarat de Marizot. In 1777, she married Jean Jacques Marie Verdun (or de
Verdun), fermier général depuis 1781 and honorary superintendent of finances
for comte d’Artois. {Biographical information from Olivier Blanc.} VLB also
lists portraits for this sitter for 1776, 1779, 1782, and this 1780 listing.
Dorotheum suggested that some of the later paintings were merely copies of an
earlier portrait.
ca. 1780 "Portrait of a
Gentleman, Presumably the Brother of Comtesse de Verdun," oil on
canvas, 25 1/2" x 21 1/4", auctioned as by VLB in 1989, and by
Sotheby's January 30, 2014. [Originally supplied by Olivier Blanc.] Sotheby's
stated that Joseph Baillio proposed the identification, and Sotheby's stated
that the sitter was believed to be the brother of: "Anne Catherine Le
Preudhomme de Chatenoy, Comtesse de Verdun (circa 1741-1822). Though little is
known of her immediate family, they all belonged to the influential circle of
the Comte d' Artois, brother of King Louis XVI. The Comtesse married Jean
Jacques Marie, Comte de Verdun in 1777, a wealthy tax farmer (fermier général).
Though unrecorded in VLB's personal records, this portrait, along with
portraits of the Comte and Comtesse de Verdun were illustrated and sold
together in the 1928 Hôtel Drouot auction of the collection of a family
descendant."
1780-81 "Louise-Charlotte Le
Tellier, Baronne de Montesquiou-Fézensac," oval, pastel on
paper mounted on canvas, private collection, 27 3/4" x 21 7/8" (70.5
x 55.5 cm). Baillio (2015), p. 216 (color) (Cat. 87). {"1 Mme la
Baronne de Montesquiou."} Louise-Charlotte Françoise Le Tellier de
Louvois-Courtenvaux de Montmirail de Creuzy (born in Paris on 26 June 1765;
died in Bessé sur Braye, 29 May 1835). She was a daughter of the marquis de
Montmirail (1734-1765) and Charlotte Bénigne le Ragois de Bretonvilliers. On 11
November 1781, she married Pierre de Montesquiou Fézensac (30 September 1764,
Paris - 4 August 1834, Castle Courtanvaux (Bessé-sur-Braye)), whom VLB lists
for 1782 as "Le Baron de Montesquiou." The sitter became gouvernante
des enfants de Napoléon sous l'Empire. VLB painted her husband in 1782.
There is also a very unusual full profile of this sitter, said to be by VLB (and
supported by what appears to be an engraving).
{"1 Mme de Montaudran."} Perhaps
Charlotte Louise Masson de Malboue, daughter of a banker, who in 1762 married
Louis Joseph de Mondran (b. 1731). They lived in rue de Cléry, and owned the
castle of Breuilpont. [Suggested by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Foulquier."}
{"2 Mme Genty."} Olivier Blanc believes
this to be Louise-Elisabeth Collet, daughter ot the Secrétaire des
commandements de l’Infante Marie, and ex chargé d’affaires in Parma (Italy). On
15 May 1775 she married, in Versailles, to Antoine-Philippe Gentil who was
"premier valet de chambre de la garde du robe du roi". Quoted in Mme
Campan’s Mémories. [For comparison, the Swedish painter Hall painted a
portrait of "Mme Gentil de Saint-Alphonse" in 1782. (This painting
was misidentified at one time as a VLB painting of Princess de Lamballe.]
{"1 La Duchesse de Mazarin."}
{"During my pregnancy I had painted the Duchesse de Màzarin..." - Letter
IV} Probably Louise-Jeanne de Durfort de Duras, 1735-81, only daughter of
the duc de Duras and Charlotte-Antoinette Mazarini. She was a duchess in her
own right, inheriting the title from her mother. Her daughter married Honore IV
Grimaldi, prince of Monaco.
1780 "Madame de Saint
Huberty," oil on canvas. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists
Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006), has also identified a pastel version,
oval, 78 x 63 cm, signed and dated lower right: Mde
LeBrun 1780. Musée Municipal, Saint-Germain-en-Laye (as of 2 Nov.
2011, on long-term loan to Musée-Promenade of Marlyleroi/Louveciennes). {"Mme
Saint-Huberti not only possessed a superb voice but was also a truly great
actress." - Letter VIII} Anne-Antoinette-Cécile Clavel (15 December
1756, Strasbourg-22 July 1812, London) was a celebrated soprano, c. 1774-1790.
On 10 September 1775, she married to Claude-Philippe Croisilles de
Saint-Huberty, who turned out to be a gambler and wife-beater. In January 1781,
Antoinette was able to obtain an annulment. On 29 December 1790, at Castel San
Pietro, near Mendrisio, Switzerland, she secretly married comte de Launay
d’Antraigues (25 December 1753, Montpellier – 22 July 1812, London). The couple
were murdered by a servant. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1780 "Venus Binding the Wings of Cupid,"
pastel; Hôtel Drouot, Paris. Engraving of this painting shown in The Exceptional
Woman by Mary D. Sheriff. {"1 Venus binding the wings of Love."}
{"The day my daughter was born [Feb 1780], I was still in the
studio, trying to work on my Venus Binding the Wings of Cupid in the intervals
between labour pains." - Letter IV} [Referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.]
1780 "Peace Bringing Back
Abundance," oil on canvas, 40 3/8" x 52 1/8" (103 x 133 cm),
signed and dated lower center: Mde Le Brun. f 1780. Musée du
Louvre, Paris. Burlington, Dec 1981, p. 741; Art in America, Nov
1982, p. 76; Baillio (1982), p. 42 (b&w); Baillio (2016), p.
75 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016),
p. 34 (color). {"1 Peace brings back Plenty."} VLB’s reception
piece to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, May 31, 1783. See
the Baillio (1982) description. Preparatory studies are also extant. One is:
1779-80 "
Study of a head for Peace - preliminary study for Peace Restoring Abundance,"
black and colored chalks on cream paper, 18 7/8" x 16" (47.9 x 40.5 cm).
Private collection, Paris. Burlington, Dec 1981, cover; Connaissance
des Arts, 364:87, Jun 1982 (color); L’Oeil Jun 1993, p. 23
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 132 (color). Another is: "Study of a
head for Abudance - preliminary study for Peace Restorying Abundance,"
pastel and black chalk on paper, 17 3/4" x 18 7/8" (45 x 48 cm),
private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 132 (color).
ca. 1780-81 "La reine
Marie-Antoinette dans le parc de Versailles," black chalk and stump
heightened with white chalk on grey-blue paper, 23 1/8" x 15 7/8"
(58.7 x 40.3 cm), L’Oeil, Jun/Jul 1983, p. 33; Baillio (2015),
p. 28; Baillio (2016), p. 24. [Sold for $183,330 on 5/30/88.]
{"1 Head of a young girl smelling a
rose."} Half-length, pastel, unlocated. [Referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1781 at the Salon de la Correspondance.]
{"1 Mme Young."}
{"1 M. le Comte de Cossé."} François
Hyacinthe Thimoléon [elsewhere Hyacinthe Hugues Timoléon], comte de Cossé,
neveu de maréchal de Brissac (1746-1813). In 1771 he married Mlle de
Wignancourt (d. 1778). In 1784 he remarried, to Françoise Dorothée d’Orléans
Rothelin (d. 1818). He became duc de Cossé par brevet in 1784, maréchal de camp
in 1788, liutenant général in 1791. [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited in 1781 at the Salon de la Correspondance.] [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.]
"Ernestine Fredérique, Princess de Croy" {"1 Mme
la Princesse de Crouy."} Oil on canvas, oval, 74 x 60 cm. National Museum,
Stockholm. Donated in 1792 from the private collection of King Gustav III. Lived
1743-1803.
"Ernestine Fredérique, Princess de Croy" Croy’s castle,
Dülmen, Westfalia, Germany. VLB only listed one painting of the sitter, but the
pose of the sitter is very similar between this painting and the one in
Stockholm.
{"1 Mme de Saint-Alban."} Mlle Marie
Anne Laché de Saint-Albin born at Saint-Malo, the well known mistress of Radix
de Sainte-Foix, friend of VLB, who was exiled to London. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.] [In a 1980 article, Joseph Baillio indicated that he thought
the sitter’s name was Mme de Saint-Auban.] Also listed in 1789.
1781 "Monsieur Landry
de Saint Aubin," oil on canvas, 36" x 29," Private
collection. Art News, 16 May 1931, supp p. 49; Baillio (1982), p.
21 (color); Art Journal, 42:4:335-8, Winter 1982. {"1 M. de
Landry."} Etienne Nicolas Landry de Saint Aubin, dates unknown. His
wife was Marie Adelaide, née Lepeu. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1781-82 "Self
Portrait" (aux rubans cerise), oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 21
1/4" (64.8 x 54 cm), signed lower right: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun.
Kimbell Art Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas. Baillio (1982), frontispiece
(color); The Sweetness of Life (color); museum slide; Baillio
(2015), p. 83 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 81 (color) {"2
Self-portraits."} Per Baillio (1982), two true copies are known: oil on panel,
shown mistakenly reversed in L’Oeil, Mar 1981, p. 37 (color). The other,
signed L. Vigée / Le Brun, was illustrated by André Blum, Madame
Vigée-Lebrun peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siécle, 1919, p. 18. Baillio
(1982), p. 47, cites and details many anonymous copies, including ovals.
[One oval,
probably anonymous, appeared in Art News, 3/30/1947, p. 11.] See the Baillio
(1982) description.
{"1 Study of a head for M. Le Pelletier de
Morfontaine."} {"M. Le Pelletier de Morfontaine, for a long time
Prévôt de Marchands under Louis XVI..." - Pen Portraits}
{"1 Study of a head for M. Proult."}
{"3 Study of a head for M. de Cossé."}
1782 "Comte de
Provence" {"1 Monsieur, the King’s brother."} oil on canvas,
29" x 23" (73.5 x 58.5 cm), signed lower right: Lse
LeBrun f 1782. Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 153 (color). Louis
Stanislas Xavier de France (17 November 1755, Palace of Versailles – 16
September 1824, Louvre Palace), the Comte de Provence, later Louis XVIII.
[Color image provided by Jana Talkenberg.] VLB also listed paintings of him
from 1776 and 1778.
{"1 A copy of the same."}
{"1 Mme la Duchesse de Chaulnes."} Marie
d’Albert de Luynes. Louis de Carmontelle made a portrait
of this lady.
{"1 Mlle Dumoley."} Geneviève Sophie
Le Couteulx de la Noraye, wife of Jacques-Jean Le Couteulx du Molay. VLB also
painted the sitter in 1788. {The "Mlle" is apparently a mistake for
"Mdm," since the following listing is for her son.} [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
“Jacques-Félix Le Couteulx du Molay,” pastel. Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800(Unicorn Press 2006).
{"1 M. Dumoley, her son."} Jacques Félix Le Coulteux du Molay, son
of Jacques-Jean Le Couteulx du Molay and Geneviève Sophie Le Couteulx de la
Noraye (whom VLB painted in 1788). He was born Paris 29 June 1779 and died in
Dijon 1 April 1812. In 1804 he married Alexandrine Sophie Pauline Le Couteulx;
the couple had three children.Préfet de la Côte d’Or, baron de l’Empire.
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1781 "Mme Du Barry,"
oil on canvas, laid down on board, 33 7/8" x 26" (86 x 66 cm),
Private Collection. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 159 (b&w); Baillio
(1982), p. 56 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 169 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 77 (color). {"1 La Comtesse Dubarry."} {"The
first [portrait] was between a bust and a three-quarter length painting, with
her in a house gown and wearing a straw hat." - Letter X} Goodden, in The
Sweetness of Life, p. 67, dates this to 1781, because the hat "matches
the description of a hat in a bill sent to Madame du Barry that year by Rose
Bertin, the marchande de modes." Letter X indicates this portrait
was painted on the same trip as the portrait with a garland, and that painting
is signed and dated 1782, so it is possible that this painting was done in
1782. VLB erred when she wrote 1786 in Letter X, and also erred by duplicating
this on her 1787 list as "1 The same, in her robe." An autograph copy,
1781, "Mme Du Barry," oil on panel, 27 1/4" x 20 1/4" (69.2
x 51.4 cm), is found in the the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Museum website.
{"1 Sketch for my painting of Juno."}
{"1 Venus, study of a head."}
1781 "Juno Borrowing the Girdle of Venus," oil on canvas, 19
1/4" x 15 1/8" (49 x 38.5 cm). Private collection, New York. Baillio
(2015), p. 134 (color). {Historical Paintings: "1 Juno asking for
Venus’ girdle."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783
at the Salon de la Correspondance, and also the same year at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.] This portrait was displayed in the 2015 Paris Exhibition.
{"1 Mme d’Harvelay."} Micault
d’Harvelay, born Mlle Nettine, the daughter of the Vicomte and Victomtesse de
Nettine, of Brussels. Widowed from M. Micault d’Harvelay, she married Calonne
in England in 1787. VLB had painted her sister, Mme de La Borde, in 1775. A
miniature portrait
by Louis-Marie Sicardi is in the Louvre. [Information from Olivier Blanc
and Kevin Kelly; image from Olivier.]
ca. 1780-83 "A lady," oil
on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25." Auctioned at Christie’s, Paris, 24 June
2004. [Could this be Mme d’Harvelay?.]
{"2 Mlle de Laborde."} [VLB wrote that
as she prepared to flee France in 1789, "I also refused to paint Mlle de
Laborde (now Duchesse de Noailles), who was brought to me by her father; she
was scarcely sixteen and quite charming..." - Letter XII. Perhaps these
two portraits of 1781 were of the same girl at the age of 8, or perhaps were of
an older sister.]
{"1 Mlle Devaron."}
"Comtesse de
Moreton de Chabrillan," oil on canvas, 29" x 23 1/4" (68.6 x
50.8 cm), signed Mde L. E. Vigée Le Brun (per sales list,
verify). Private collection. {"1 Mme de Moreton."} The wife of
Jacques Henri Sébastian César de Moreton de Chabrillan (1752-?). [Identified
by Olivier Blanc] Painting exhibited 14 May to 6 June, 1926, Paris. The
painting was also reproduced as an engraving.
{"1 Copy of M. de Moreton."}
{"1 Mme de la Porte."} M. and Mme de
la Porte du Theil lived on quai de Conti no6. A portrait of a Mme de
la Porte, née Caumartin, was painted by Nattier. [Research by Olivier
Blanc.]
1781 "Marie Thérèse
Louise de Savoie-Carignan, Princess de Lamballe," pastel, Private
Collection, Paris. A color detail is also available. [Images from Olivier
Blanc]. {"3 La Princesse de Lamballe."} {"During the same period
I also painted a portrait of the Princess de Lamballe." - Letter V} Born
1749. She was married to Louis Stanislas, the Prince de Lamballe (1747-68), the
brother of Louise Marie Adélaïde de Penthièvre (the future Duchesse de
Chartres). The Princess de Lamballe was widowed at the age of 19. A friend of
Marie Antoinette, she was killed 3 Sept 1792.
1782 "Princess de
Lamballe," oil on canvas, oval, 78 x 64 cm. Signed and dated lower
right: Lse. Vigee LeBrun f 1782. {"3 La Princesse de
Lamballe."} {"During the same period I also painted a portrait of the
Princess de Lamballe." - Letter V} Thanks to Charles Vatinel and Olivier
Blanc for reporting that this painting was published in preparation for auction
7 November 2011 by Audap & Mirabaud, Paris. Previously, Olivier
Blanc had located a copy that had been reproduced in miniature
by Josep Boze, which is now in the collections of the Louvre. Claudia
Solacini had previously located a print, "Princess de
Lamballe," which is very similar, though missing the hat. Perhaps the
print was produced from this portrait, or perhaps VLB separately prepared a
version without the hat.
1781 "Princess de
Lamballe," oil on canvas, oval, 31 7/8" x 25 1/4" (81 x 64
cm). {"3 La Princesse de Lamballe."}
1781 "Love Testing an Arrow in the Presence
of Venus," oil on canvas. An image tentatively titled "Woman and Love"
may perhaps match this item. Illustrated by André Blum, Madame Vigée-Lebrun
peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siécle, 1919.
1781 "Marie Antoinette,"
oil on canvas, oil, Collection of the Hesse Family. Haldane Macfall, Louise-Élisabeth
VIGÉE-LEBRUN (2015), p. 34. [Thanks to Jana Talkenberg.]
{"1 Madame, the King’s sister."} Elisabeth-Philippe-Marie-Hélène,
one of two sisters of Louis XVI, born 1764, executed 1794. [See also the
portraits listed for 1783.]
{"1 Copy of the same."}
1782 "Yolande
Gabrielle Martine de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac," oil on canvas,
36 3/8" x 28 7/8" (92.2 x 73.3 cm), signed and dated lower left: Lse
Le Brun 1782. Musée National du Château de Versailles. Antiques, Nov
1967, p. 708 (b&w); Le Jardin des Arts, No. 31 (1957), cover (color);
Baillio (2015), p. 171 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 79 (color);
Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 36
(color). {"1 Mme la Duchess de Polignac."} {"Yolande Martins de
Polastron, born around 1749, married Comte Jules de Polignac in 1767; he became
Duke in 1780. Mme, Duchesse de Polignac, intimate friend of Queen Marie
Antoinette and governess of her children, died in Vienna in 1793." -
Chapter XII, Footnote I} For her 1787 list, VLB includes a painting, "The
Duchesse de Polignac with a straw hat," which is a mistake as the painting
was made in 1782 and already accounted for by this listing.
1782 "Yoland Gabrielle
Martine de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac," pastel, 46" x
35", auctioned at La Castellana, Madrid, Spain. {"1 A copy of the
same."} It is unclear whether this pastel was intended as a study for the
oil listed above, or whether it was intended as "a copy of the same."
{"1 Le Baron de Montesquiou."} Pierre
de Montesquiou Fézensac (30 September 1764, Paris - 4 August 1834, Castle
Courtanvaux (Bessé-sur-Braye)), son of marquis Anne Élisabeth Pierre de
Montesquiou Fézensac (17 October 1739, Paris - 30 December 1798, Paris),
maréchal de Camp et député de la noblesse aux Etats-Généraux, and his wife,
Jeanne Marie Hocquart de Montfermeil (born 1743). On 11 November 1781, the
sitter married Louise-Charlotte Le Tellier (whom VLB lists in 1780 as "Le
Baronne de Montesquiou."). VLB also painted the sitter's sister and
brother-in-law, “M. and Mme. de Lastic,” who appear on the list for 1779. VLB
also has a listing for 1779 for “M. and Mme. de Montesquiou,” who are
presumably this sitter's parents (Marquis and Marquise de Montesquiou), or
possibly his younger brother and his wife.
1782 "Anne Catherine Le
Preudhomme de Chatenoy, Comtesse de Verdun," oil on canvas, 24
3/4" x 20 7/8" (63 x 53 cm), private collection. Baillio (2015),
p. 17 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 7 (color). A photo of an oval version
was also found, possibly at the Witt Library. Another copy,
oil on canvas, (66.4 x 53.3 cm), was auctioned as "VLB and Studio" by
Dorotheum Auction House on 13 April 2011. {"1 Mme de
Verdun."} {"...she was my first friend, and remains to this day my
closest..." - Pen Portraits} Anne Catherine Le Preudhomme de Chatenoy,
from the family de Lorraine. Daughter of Nicolas François comte de Chatenoy and
Françoise de Barbarat de Marizot. In 1777, she married Jean Jacques Marie
Verdun (or de Verdun), fermier général depuis 1781 and honorary superintendent
of finances for comte d’Artois. {Biographical information from Olivier
Blanc.} VLB also lists portraits for this sitter for 1776, 1779, 1780, and this
1782 listing. Dorotheum suggested that some of the later paintings were merely
copies of an earlier portrait. (We show an unrelated painting for 1779.)
1785? "Comtesse de
Chastenay," oil on canvas, oval, 25 1/2" x 21 1/2," Museo de
Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Baillio (1982), p. 58 (b&w). {"1
Mme de Chatenay."} [Baillio noted that many (anonymous?) copies of this
portrait exist. One was shown in Connaissance des Arts, 352:77, Jun 1981
(color), where it was misidentified as Mme Adélaïde de la Briche (VLB’s list,
1788).] Catherine Louise d’Herbouville (1748-1830), the wife of Erard
Louis Guil Comte de Chastenay de Lanty (1748-1830). See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1782 "Prince Heinrich of
Prussia," oil on panel, oval, 28 3/4" x 23 1/8" (73 x 58.5
cm), private collection, France. Baillio (1982), p. 41 (b&w); Baillio
(2016), p. 210 (color). {"3 Prince Henry of Prussia."} {"The
Comtesse de Sabran first introduced me to Prince Henry of Prussia..." -
Pen Portraits} Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig (18 January 1726, Berlin – 3
August 1802, Rheinsberg) was a son of Friedrich Wilhelm I and Sophia Dorothea
of Hanover. On 25 June 1752, Henry married Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Kassel
in Charlottenburg, but they had no children. The sitter lived in the shadow of
his older brother, Frederick the Great, though he was proposed in 1786 to serve
as monarch for the United States of America during the Prussian
scheme.
1782 "Self Portrait
(with straw hat)," oil on panel, 37 3/8" x 27 1/8" (95 x
68.5 cm), signed and dated lower right: L.se Le Brun / 1782,
Private Collection, Switzerland. [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited in 1782 at the Salon de la Correspondance, and in 1783 at the Salon
de l’Académie Royale.] Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982 (b&w); L’Oeil,
Jun/Jul 1983, p. 32 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 11 (color). An autograph copy
exists: oil on canvas, 38-1/2" x 27-1/2," National Gallery, London. The
National Gallery Companion Guide, by Erika Langmuir, 1994
(color). {"I was so delighted and inspired by [Ruben’s Chapeau de
Paille] that I completed a self portrait whilst in Brussels in an
effort to achieve the same effect. I painted myself wearing a straw hat with a
feather and a garland of wild flowers, and holding a palette in one
hand."- Letter VI}
1782 "Princess Izabele Elzbiete Anne Teofile
Czartoryska, Comtess de Chabrillan," oil on canvas, 29" x 23
1/4" (73.5 x 59 cm), signed: Mde L. E. Vigée Le Brun. Unlocated. No
reproductions known. ["...Princess Lubomirska, whom I had known in Paris
at the time when I painted the portrait of her nephew in Amour de la gloire."
- Chap. XII] Izabele Elzbiete Anne Teofile Czartoryska (21 May 1736 - 11
November 1816, Vienna), a daughter of August Aleksander Czartoryski (9 November
1697, Warsaw – 4 April 1782, Warsaw) and Maria Zofia Sieniawska (1698 – 21 May
1771, Warsaw). She was the sister of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, whom
VLB painted in 1793. They were cousins of King Stanislas Poniatowski. On 9 June
1753, the sitter married Stanislaw Lubomirski (25 December 25, Łancut - 12
August 1782, Łancut). The couple had four daughters: (1) Elżbieta
Lubomirska (1755–1783); (2) Aleksandra Lubomirska (1760–1836), who on 2 June
1776 would marry Stanisław Kostka Potock; (3) Konstancja Małgorzata
Lubomirska (1761–1840), who in 1782 would marry Seweryn Rzewuski; and (4) Julia
Lubomirska (1764 – 22 August 1794, Kraków), who in 1785 would marry Jan
Nepomucen Potocki (8 March 1761 – 23 December 1815). Lacking a son, the couple
raised a distant relative, Prince Henryk Lubomirski (15 Sep 1777-1850), the son
of Prince Jozef Lubomirski and Ludwika Sosnowska. Also see a painting for
the princess listed under 1793.
ca. 1782-83 "Self Portrait
in a Straw Hat," black chalk, stumping and charcoal, on paper, 18
7/8" x 14 1/2" (48 x 37 cm), private collection. Baillio (2015),
p. 85; Baillio (2016), p. 82.
1782 "Julie Le Brun,"
pastel, 10” x 9.3”, National Museum, Stockholm. [This is possibly the pastel
referenced in Baillio (1982) as formerly owned by Mme Weill, Paris.] Jeanne-Julie-Louis
Le Brun, the artist’s daughter, 1780-1820. Sold by Sotheby's Paris, 27 June
2002, lot 71. A non-autograph inscription identifies the child as Julie, but
Angela Demutskiy questions how this light-haired toddler could be Julie, who
was nicknamed Brunette.
1782 "Mme Du Barry,"
(knee length), signed and dated bottom right: L. Vigée Le Brun 1782,
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov
1980, p. 158 (b&w); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); color image
from museum website. {"In 1786 [sic] I went to Louveciennes for the
first time, having promised to paint Mme Dubarry...the second [portrait] showed
her dressed in white satin, holding a garland in one hand and one of her arms
resting on a pedestal." - Letter X} [VLB wrote that an owner had the
face overpainted to add rouge, which was apparently never removed.] The
painting is dated 1782, so VLB erred when she wrote 1786 in Letter X. She
didn’t list this painting for 1782, mistakenly recording it in 1787, as a
full-length (instead of knee length). [Attribution by Joseph Baillio.]
1782 "Comtesse de
Provence," oil on canvas, oval, 31 3/4" x 25 1/2" (80.7 x
64.8 cm), signed and dated: Lse Le Brun f. 1782. Private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 154 (color). Image provided by Olivier Blanc. A variant,
oil on canvas, oval, appeared as a black and white photo from Witt Library.
A pastel version, 54cm x 45cm, is published in vicomte Tony Henri Auguste de
Reiset, Joséphine de Savoie, comtesse de Provence, 1753-1810, d’après des
documents inédits, Paris, Émile-Paul frères, 1913. {Only listed for 1783.}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale. Also exhibited then was a portrait of her husband, the Comte
de Provence. VLB painted him on many occasions prior to that exhibition.] Marie-Joséphine-Louise
de Savoie, 1753-1810.
"Self Portrait,"
pastel, 26cm x 32cm. Formerly owned by Bartholt Suermondt, founder of the
Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany. [Image and information courtesy of
Fritz Erckens.]
1783 "Marquise de La
Guiche as a Milkmaid," oil on canvas, Marquis de La Guiche. Current
location unknown (last recorded at Château de Chaumont, Saint-Bonnet-de-Joux,
France); image from the Witt Library. {"1 Mme la Marquis de La
Guiche."} Jeanne-Marie de Clermont-Montoison, who in 1777 married
Charles-Amable, comte (later marquis) de La Guiche de Sevignon (guillotined in
1794). She died in 1822 when her castle of Nuis burned. They had a son, Louis
Henry Casimir (1777-1841), and a daughter Henriette. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.] VLB’s list for 1788 includes "1 Mme de La Guiche, as a
milkmaid", no doubt refering to this painting. However, Baillio (1982)
says the painting was exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale. The
1788 list is therefore probably an erroneous duplication.
1783 "Madame
Catherine-Noële Grand (later Princess de Talleyrand-Périgord)," oil on
canvas, oval, 36 1/4" x 28 1/2" (92.1 x 72.4 cm), signed and dated at
left on the sofa’s frame: L. E. Le Brun 1783. Metropolitan Museum of
Art, NY. Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, ns 10:64, Oct 1951; Antiques,
Nov 1967, p. 708 (b&w); Encyclopedia of Visual Art, p. 707 (color); Baillio
(1982), p. 48 (b&w); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 173 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 91 (color). {"1 Mme
Grant."} {"...Mme Grant, a very pretty woman whose portrait I painted
before the Revolution..." - Pen Portraits} Catherine Noële Verlée
(called Worlée) (1762-1835). She was born in India, where her father was a
French official. She married and divorced George Francis Grand, and in 1802
married Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, Duc de Périgord, later Prince de
Bénévent. See the Baillio (1982) description.
ca. 1780-83 "Young woman,"
oil on canvas, oval, 21 1/2" x 18" (54.5 x 45.5 cm).Musée du Louvre,
Paris. Baillio (2015), p. 129 (color). Previously attributed to
Fragonard; Baillio considers this unfinished painting a work by VLB. Baillio is
uncertain whether it was meant as a character study or an actual portrait of a
woman, but he notes the resemblence of the woman to Mme Grand, above.
1783 "Madame
Catherine-Noële Worlée Grand, later Princess de Talleyrand-Périgord,"
oil on canvas, oval. Vigée LeBrun (Doubleday, 1903). [VLB only listed
one portrait of Mdm Grand for 1783 (see above), but this variant has always
been attributed to her.]
{"1 La Landgrave de Salm."} Jeanne-Françoise
de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (?-1790). In 1781 she married Frédéric III Fürst
Salm-Kyrbourg (1745-1794). They had four children, one of whom survived:
Frédéric Ernest Othon (1785-?), the future Frédéric V. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
1783 "Mme la Maréchale de
Mailly," oil on canvas, oval, 29" x 23 1/4" (73.5 x 59 cm),
signed and dated at lower left: Lse Le Brun f. 1783, private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 172 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 92
(color). {"1 Mme la Maréchale de Mailly."} Blanche Charlotte Marie
Félicité de Narbonne-Pelet, maréchale-comtesse de Mailly (1761-1840). She was a
daughter of François Raymond Joseph Herménegilde Amalric, vicomte de
Narbonne-Pelet and his second wife, Lucrèce Pauline Marie Anne de Ricard de
Brégançon. In 1780, she married Joseph Augustin, comte de Mailly, marquis
d'Haucourt, who was 50 years her senior. He was promoted to marshal of France
in 1783, and guillotined in 1794.
"Countess Artois," listed on Pinterest as allegedly
having been found on Christie's website. {"2 Mme la Comtesse
d’Artois."} Marie-Thérèse de Savoie, 31 January 1756-1805. Married 16
November 1776 to Charles Philippe, the Comte d’Artois (1757-1836). He
was the youngest brother of Louis XVI, and would become Charles X (1824-30).
For comparison, Olivier Blanc has located a portrait
by Charles Leclercq, an engraving after Drouais, and an engraving
by an unknown engraver and artist.
"Countess Artois," no reproduction
known. {"2 Mme la Comtesse d’Artois."} 27 1/2" x 21
1/2", sold by Christie's of London, 28 February 1913, to Levy, £210. It
was described as: "In white muslin dress, with blue sash; her hair
powdered and surmounted by a white muslin cap."
"Duc de Berry," oil on canvas. [? Not listed or
mentioned by VLB. ?] Charles-Ferdinand d’Artois (1778-1820), the second son
of the Comte d’Artois, the future Charles X. [Painting identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
1783 "Diane Adélaïde de
Damas D’Antigny, Comtess de Simiane," oil on canvas, 28 3/8" x 23
1/4", Musée de Dijon. Antiques, Nov 1967, p. 709 (b&w).
{"2 Mme la Comtesse de Simiane."} {"...in 1783, I received a
visit from M. de La Fayette; he came to my house for the sole purpose of seeing
a portrait I was painting of the pretty Mme de Simiane, whom they say he was
taking care of at the time..." - Pen Portraits} Lived 1761-1835.
Daughter of Jacques François de Dumas, Marquis d’Antigny et de Zéphyrine
Félicité de Rochechouart. Married Charles François de Damas, Comte de Simiane,
in 1777.
1784 "La duchesse de
Guiche," pastel on paper, two sheets joined, laid down on canvas,
oval, 31 3/4" x 25 1/4" (80.5 x 64 cm), signed and dated at lower
left: Mde Le Brun 1784. Private Collection, L’Oeil,
Jun 1993, p. 21; Baillio (2015), p. 219 (color); Baillio (2016),
p. 95 (color). {"2 Mme la Duchesse de Guiche."} The daughter of
the Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, Louise Françoise Gabrielle Aglaé was born May
7, 1768. She had married on July 4, 1780 (at age 12!), to Antoine-Louis-Marie
de Gramont de Guiche. VLB also painted her two daughters Aglaé Davidoff and
Countess Tankerville. The duchesse de Guiche died in 1803 in a fire at Holyrood
Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland. She was interned there, though in 1825 her body
was returned to France. VLB does not list a painting of this sitter for
1784, so this listing is either a mistake for the 1784 painting, or refers to
an unknown portrait.
1783 "Marie Antoinette
("en gaulle") or ("en chemise)," oil on canvas, 35
3/8" x 28 3/8" (89.8 x 72 cm), is in the Collection Princesse de
Hesse-Darmstadt, Château de Wolfsgarten. Baillio (1982); Baillio
(2015), p. 49 & 155 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 86 (color);
Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 35
(color). [A copy (signature or anonymous?) oil on canvas, 36 3/4"
x 31 1/8", is located at the Musée National du Château de Versailles. The
National Gallery, Washington, D.C., has a copy, 36 1/2" x 28 3/4"
(92.7 x 73.1 cm), that its website indicates is "after" VLB.] Other
publications include: Pantheon, 1:219, Apr 1928; Antiques, Nov
1967, p. 709 (b&w); L’Oeil, Mar 1981, p. 38 (b&w), though it is
uncertain which copy they represent. {"1 Queen Marie-Antoinette with
hat."} {"One in particular showed her wearing a straw hat and a dress
of white muslin with the sleeves pulled neatly back. When this painting was
exhibited in the Salon, the evil tongues could not resist the temptation of
saying that I had painted the Queen in her underwear ..." - Letter V}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.]
1783 "Marie Antoinette
("à la rose")," oil on canvas, 46" x 35" (116.8 x
88.9 cm), Collection of Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Los Angeles. Baillio
(2015), p. 18 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 89 (color). {"2 The
same in full regalia."} VLB was forced to remove the above-listed painting
(nicknamed "en gaulle" or "en chemise," as the dress
selected by the Queen was considered scandalous by being too informal. This
painting replaced it. There is also a signature copy
(of lesser quality and perhaps completed with assistance from VLB's studio),
oil on canvas, 44 1/2" x 34 1/4," Musée National du Château de
Versailles (Petit Trianon), Amour de l’Art, 16:250, Jul 1935; La
Revue des Arts, Mar 1955; Connoisseur, Am. ed. 136:31, Sept 1955; L’Oeil,
Mar 1981, p. 39 (b&w); L’Oeil, Jan/Feb 1996, p. 33 (color).
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.]
1782 "Madame Elisabeth
of France," Musée National du Château de Versailles; museum
postcard. A variant, in Berlin Museum, shows her at a different angle,
perhaps seated; Witt Library? {"2 Madame Elisabeth, the King’s
sister."} Elisabeth-Philippe-Marie-Hélène, 1764-94.
1782 "Madame
Elisabeth of France," oval, Private Collection (?). Art News,
49:9, Sep 1950, b&w. {"2 Madame Elisabeth, the King’s sister."}
[Formerly collection of Marquise of Fitte de Soucy, then collection of comte
Jacques de Bryas; then sold at Christie’s on 7 December 1991.)
{"1 Copy of same."}
? "Madame Elisabeth,"
oil on canvas, 28" x 21 1/4" (originally a larger oval). Musée
National du Château de Versailles. Splendors of Versailles Exhibition
Catalogue?; Architectural Digest, July 1998, p. 70 (tiny image). A
preparatory painting, "Madame Elisabeth," oil on canvas, oval, 5 1/2" x
4 1/4", from the ancient collection of Marius Paulme, was auctioned in
1929. The Versailles painting was originally also an oval, but was cut into a
rectangular shape under the reign of Louis-Philippe in the 1840s.
1782? "Madame Elisabeth,"
oil on canvas. [Color image provided by Jana Talkenberg.]
{"1 Mlle Lavigne."} Julie de Lavigne
(1767-1832). She began her acting career under her maiden name. She then began
an affair with the eldest brother of the actor, François Molé, called Molé
Dallainville, which would last until his death in 1801. While she never married
him, she took his name, becoming Mme Molé aîné Dallainville. She married a M.
Léger, and then became Mme Molé-Léger. She was then widowed, and married a
second time, to comte Albitte de Vallivon, becoming comtesse Albitte de
Vallivon. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Marie Antoinette,"
oil on canvas, feigned oval, (red dress, black cap, white plume, with bayonette
tear in the center of her chest), 37 3/8" x 27 1/8." Connoisseur,
Aug 1938, p. 109. [A similar copy was found, but Angela feels, "The neck down to
her shoulder is disproportionate, the hair line is rounded and too stark for
Vigée Le Brun’s style."] {"3 Copies of the Queen with hat."}
1783-88 "Marie
Antoinette," oil on canvas. Angela writes: "I can’t tell for sure
if this is by Le Brun or not without seeing it up close, too much glare."
{"3 Copies of the Queen with hat."}
1783-88 "Marie Antoinette,"
oil on canvas, 36 3/4" x 29 1/2" (93.3 x 74.8 cm), private
collection. Vigée Lebrun (2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN 9781785250729, p.
79 (color). A similar copy after VLB, 36 1/4" x 28 3/4," was
deacquisitioned from the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1992, museum slide.
The Witt Library had a black and white image, Marie Antoinette,
which may have been an earlier image of the Detroit work, or was perhaps an
original VLB.{"4 Queen in velvet dress."} Nolhac mentioned this
painting was exhibited before the 1880’s in the collection of M. Tripier Franc,
"portrait of the Queen, in a velvet dress with fur, low cut in front,
powdered hair, red hat with white plumes."
1786-88? "Marie Antoinette"
{"4 Copies of same."}
1784 "Dauphin Louis Joseph,"
oil on canvas, oval. {"1 Monsieur le Dauphin."} The first Dauphin
Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François, 1781-89.
{"1 Madame, the King’s daughter."}
1783 "Marie Antoinette," oil on canvas,
35 3/8" x 28 3/8," Collection of the Prince of Hesse and the Rhine.
1783? "Julie Le Brun," oval, pastel.
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.]
1783? "Portrait of Mme xxx." [Referenced
in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1783 at the Salon de l’Académie
Royale.]
1783-86? "Self Portrait,"
oil on canvas, 31 1/4" x 25 1/4", Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire,
Scotland. Print from Fyvie Castle (color); Burlington, Aug 1941,
p. 51 (b&w). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} The date is suggested by
Lucia Cardellini, believing that VLB composed the painting after seeing
Rembrandt’s Saskia’s portraits in Flanders.
1783-85 "Portrait of a
Dancer," 41 3/8" x 29 1/2" (105 x 75 cm). Musée Cognacq-Jay,
Paris. Revue de l’Art, 56:138, Sep 1929; Historia del ballet by
Ferdinando Reyna; Brilliant Beginnings, The Youthful Works of Great Artists,
Writers, and Composers. At one time this portrait was thought to represent
Maríe Anne De Cupis Camargo, 1710-70, French ballet dancer, which would have
meant that this was a copy from an earlier artist’s painting or engraving.
Another suggestion is that it could be Mlle.Anne Heinel, a famous opera dancer
based on similarities to a painting of her by Michel-Vincent Brandoin, engraved
in London in 1772 by Proud ("Melle Heinel in the Character of a
Sultana"). However, the clothing dates the painting to the 1780s. Another
suggestion is that this is another portrait of VLB's sister-in-law Suzanne, who
participated in VLB's musical evenings, and may have therefore been represented
in the character of an actress and musician.
1783 "Martin van Nieuvenhove, Praying to the
Madonna and Child," (after Hans Memling), oil on copper. Diptych, each 18
1/4 x 13 1/2". Said to have been painted for Mme. Adelaide, daughter of
Louis XV, with a provenance through her lady in waiting. Auctioned by Wm.
Doyle, New York, 1992 (illustrated in their sales catalogue).
"Study for the
Head of Madonna and Child," drawing. This was identified as a VLB on
the Courtauld Institute of Art website.
ca. 1783 "Eugène de
Montesquiou-Fézensac," pastel on paper, 9 1/8" x 12 1/2" (23
x 31.5 cm), Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 193 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 84 (color). Rodrigue Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac
d'Artagnan (15 August 1782, Paris - 1810, Ciudad Rodrigo), chevalier, puis de
baron de l’Empire, l’aigle d’or de la Légion, une dotation de 10 000 francs,
l’aigrette de colonel du 13e chasseurs. His parents were comte Anne
Elisabeth Pierre de Montesquiou-Fézensac, first equerry to the comte de
Provence, and Louise Charlotte Françoise Le Tellier de Louvois-Courtanvaux de
Montmirail de Creuzy. In 1803, the sitter married Aline d’Harcourt d’Olonde,
and they had three children. VLB listed a painting of the sitter's mother in
1780 and father in 1782.
ca. 1783 "Sleeping baby,"
black, white, and red chalk with stumping, on beige paper, 12 3/4" x 10
1/4" (32.5 x 26 cm), Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 191
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 83 (color). Baillio states this is possibly
Eugene de Montesquiou-Fezensac.
ca. 1783 "Blue-eyed baby,"
pastel, 12-3/4" x 9-5/8." Collection Marquis de Lastic, Château de
Parentignat. Baillio (2015), p. 192 (color). Baillio (who had previously
misidentified the sitter as Louis-Charles, duc de Normandie) now identifies the
baby as a member of the Lastic Sieujac family, either Amédée (1780-88),
François (1783-84), or Octavie (1785-1861) de Lastic-Siejac. The parents were
marquis and marquise de Lastic-Siejac. The mother, born Anne-Louise Hyacinthe
Augustine de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1761-1821), was a sister of comte Anne
Elisabeth Pierre de Montesquiou-Fézensac. Thus, the infant portrayed was a
first cousin of Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac, listed above.
ca. 1783 "Sleeping baby,"
pastel, 9-5/8" x 12-3/4." Collection Marquis de Lastic, Château de
Parentignat. Baillio (2015), p. 193 (color). Baillio (who had previously
misidentified the sitter as Sophie-Helene Beatriix de France), now identifies
the baby as a member of the Lastic Sieujac family, either Amédée (1780-88),
François (1783-84), or Octavie (1785-1861) de Lastic-Siejac. The parents were
marquis and marquise de Lastic-Siejac. The mother, born Anne-Louise Hyacinthe
Augustine de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1761-1821), was a sister of comte Anne
Elisabeth Pierre de Montesquiou-Fézensac. Thus, the infant portrayed was a
first cousin of Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac, listed above.
ca. 1782-85 "Head and shoulders
portrait of a baby," pastel on paper, 11 7/8" x 9 1/4" (30 x
23.3 cm), Collection of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. Baillio (2015), p. 192
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 85 (color). (Previously attributed to VLB's
father; correctly reattributed to her by Neil Jeffares.)
1784 "The Comte de
Vaudreuil," oil on canvas, 52" x 38 7/8" (132.1 x 98.7 cm),
inscribed lower left: COMTE DE VAUDREUIL / Gd FAUCONNIER DE
FRANCE / CHEVALIER DES ORDRES DU ROI / LIEUTt GÉNÉRAL ET PAIR DE
FRANCE / NÉ 1740 MORT 1817. Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia. Antiques,
Jan 1968, p. 110 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 52 (b&w); Apollo,
130:23, Jul 1989, p. 23; The Sweetness of Life (b&w); museum
slide; Baillio (2015), p. 161 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 96
(color). {"1 M. le Comte de Vaudreuil."} Joseph Hyacinthe François
de Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil, 1740-1817. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
"Comte de
Vaudreuil," oil on canvas, 28" x 22 3/8" (71 x 58 cm).
Private collection, Paris. Photo from Witt Library. {"5 Copies of
same."} [VLB cites 2 half-lengths made during the Restoration, but it’s
hard to believe that the sitter is 20 years older in this portrait.] [Baillio
says an account of the known versions is found in the exhibition catalogue, French
Painting 1774-1830.]
1784 "Marie-Gabrielle de
Gramont, comtesse de Gramont Caderousse," oil on panel, 41 3/8" x
29 7/8" (105.1 x 75.9 cm), signed and dated lower right: Lse
LeBrun. f. 1784. Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City. Burlington, Nov
1984, xxi ; Burlington, Feb 1991, p. 154; Connaissance des Arts,
404:71; Baillio (2015), p. 29 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 113
(color). {"1 La Comtesse de Grammont-Caderousse."} Marie Gabrielle
de Sinety (1761-1832), a daughter of André Louis, marquis de Sinety, and his
wife, Marie Anne de Ravenel. In 1800, she married André Joseph Hippolyte,
marquis and comte de Gramont Caderousse. Referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1785 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.
1784 "Lady Folding a
Letter (? The Comtesse de Cérès)," oil on canvas, 36" x 29"
(91.4 x 73.7 cm), signed and dated on the letter: Lse Ve
Le Brun / 1784. Toledo Museum of Art. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
6:63:supp 64, Feb 64; Art News, 63:26, Jan 1965 (b&w); Apollo,
81:34, Jan 1965 (b&w); Gazette des Beaux Arts, 6:65:supp 51, Feb 65
(b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 54 (b&w); L’Oeil, Jun 1993, p.
26 (color); Baillio (2015), p. 174 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 99
(color). {"1 Mme la Comtesse de Serré."} {... Mme de S***[Cérès],
wife of D***[Du Barry], nicknamed The Rake... M. de Calonne, however,
was very much in love with her. At this time she had asked me to paint her
portrait." - Letter VII} Anonymous miniature copy exists. [VLB only listed
two women for the year this painting is dated. While it’s possible that it
represents another sitter that VLB forgot to record for this year, or that she
mistakenly listed for another year, Baillio finds stylistic reasons (the still
life of writing instruments is similar to that found in the portrait of Charles
Alexandre de Calonne) to believe that this is indeed the portrait of the
Comtesse de Cérès.] Anne Marie Thérèse de Rabaudy Montoussin (1759-1834),
who in 1777 became the second wife of Comte Jean Baptiste Du Barry (1723-1794).
"Nicolas Beaujon,"
pastel, oval, 28" x 22-7/8" (71 cm x 58 cm). Gazette des Beaux
Arts, Jan 1982, p. 24 (b&w); Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 M. de
Beaujon."} Lived 1718-86, he was court banker to Louis XV.
He had a massive art collection, with many pieces being acquired for him by
VLB’s husband. [VLB’s Souvenirs imply her first commission for Beaujon
was the grand portrait for his hospital, which she lists in 1785. Thus, this
pastel may have actually been painted in 1785.] [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.]
1784 "Madame Royale and the
Dauphin Louis Joseph," oil on canvas, 45 1/2" x 37 1/8"
(115.5 x 94.3 cm), signed and dated lower right: L. Le Brun. f. 1784.
Musée National du Château de Versailles. Chicago Art Institute Quarterly,
56:46, Autumn 1962; L’Oeil, Mar 1981, p. 40 (color); Baillio (1982),
p. 50 (b&w); L’Oeil, 392:17, Mar 1988; Baillio (2015), p. 157
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 100 (color). Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Mme
Royale, later the Duchesse d’Angoulême, 1778-1851; and the first Dauphin
Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François, 1781-89. See the Baillio (1982) description.
"Nicolas Beaujon," unlocated. {"1
M. de Beaujon."} An inferior copy after VLB, oil on canvas, is in the Musée Carnavalet,
Paris. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jan 1982, p. 25 (b&w). [Also see the
listing for 1784. There is some confusion over which painting(s) were done in
1784 and which in 1785.]
ca. 1785 "Princesse de
Carignan," Connoisseur, Feb. 1907, p. 123; {"1 La
Princesse de Carignan."} Marie-Josèphe Thérèse de Lorraine-Brionne,
princess of Elbeul (1753-1797), daughter of Comtesse de Brionne (whom VLB
painted in 1771) and Louis III de Lorraine-Brionne, Prince de Lambesc. In 1768,
she married Vittorio Amedeo di Savoia-Carignano, duc de Carignano. VLB had also
painted her sister, Princess de Lorraine, in 1771. [Identified by Dr.
Velde.] Another
portrait, oil on canvas, 30 3/4" x 26", published in Il
Neoclassicismo in Italia, da Tiepolo a Canova, Palazzo reale, Milano 2002,
p.321, 499 and 500, is attributed to Grassi, but Olivier Blanc suggested that
VLB may have been the artist.
"Luisa Todi,"
oil on canvas, oval, 31" x 24 1/4" (78.8 x 61.7 cm), Museu da Música,
Lisboa, Portugal. {"1 Mme Todi."} {"As for Mme Todi, she united
all the qualities of a great singer and managed both comic and tragic roles
with equal perfection." - Letter VI} Luisa Todi (1753-1833), born Luisa
Rosa de Aguiar, was a very popular Portuguese opera singer. She was born in
Setubal, Portugal. [Painting and biography located on Wikipedia.]
1784 "Charles
Alexandre de Calonne," oil on canvas, 61 1/4" x 51 1/4"
(155.5 x 130.3 cm), signed and dated lower right: Le Brun. f. 1784.
Property of Her Majesty Elizabeth II. Antiques, May 1966, p. 707 (?); Antiques,
Jan 1968, p. 112 (b&w); L’Oeil, May 1981, p. 53 (color); Baillio
(1982), p. 55 (b&w); Apollo, 119:354, May 1984 (b&w); Apollo,
Jul 1989, p. 20 (b&w); The Sweetness of Life (color); Baillio
(2015), p. 162 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 104 (color). {"1 M.
de Calonne."} {"Shortly before the Revolution I painted the portrait
of M. de Calonne and I exhibited it at the salon [de l’Académie Royale]
of 1785..." - Letter VII} [We also have an image of an oval version, which
is shown for later this year, where VLB listed a copy of Calonne.] He lived
1734-1802, and was Controller General of Finances.
1785 "Antoinette-Elisabeth-Marie
d’Aguesseau, Comtesse de Ségur," oil on canvas, 36 1/4" x 28
3/4" (92 x 73 cm), Musée National du Château de Versailles. Museum
Postcard; Baillio (2015), p. 175 (color); Baillio (2016), p.
106 (color). {"1 Mme la Comtesse de Ségur."} {"...at the home of
Mme de La Reynière … I met the Comtesse de Ségur...; she never left the side of
her father-in-law, the Marèchal de Ségur..." - Pen Portraits} [Referenced
in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1785 at the Salon de l’Académie
Royale.] Lived 1756-1828. The daughter of Jean-Baptiste-Paulin d’Aguesseau
de Fresne, comte de Campans (1702-84) (by his second wife, née Le Bret), and
grandaughter of the distinguished chancelier Henri-François Daguesseau. In 1777
she married Charles-Louis-Philippe de Ségur (ca. 1753-?), whose father,
Philippe-Henri de Ségur, was appointed minister of war in 1780, maréchal de
France in 1783.
{"1 Copy of same."}
1785 "Charles-Louis-Philippe
de Ségur," Musée National du Château de Versailles. {"1 M. Comte
de Ségur."} {"...the Comtesse de Ségur[‘s] … husband, known for his
wit and literary talent, was then ambassador to Russia." - Pen Portraits}
Lived 1753-1830. His father was Philippe-Henri de Ségur (1724-1801),
marechal de France and Minister of War under Louis XVI. [Image provided by
Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Copy of same."}
1785 "Baronne de Crussol,"
oil on panel, 44 3/4" x 33 1/8" (113.8 x 84 cm), signed and dated
upper right, Lse LeBrun f 1785. Musée des Augustins,
Toulouse. Baillio (1982), p. 61 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 177
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 108 (color). {"1 Mme la Baronne de
Crussol."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1785 at
the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Bonne Marie Joséphine Gabrielle Bernard de
Boulainvilliers (ca. 1755-after 1826), she married Baron Henri-Charles-Emmanuel
de Crussol-Florensac, lieutenant general of the armies of the king.
{"1 M. de Sainte-Hermine."} René-Louis,
marquis de Sainte-Hermine, gentilhomme d’honneur et 1er écuyer of comte
d’Artois, capitaine colonel au régiment d’artois. Born in 1741 to Louis Clément
de Sainte-Hermine and Elisabeth de Maulévrier. In 1775 he married Antoinette de
Polignac-Chalencon (elsewhere called Aimée de Polignac), daughter of François
Camille marquis de Polignac, first esquire of count d’Artois. They had two
daughters. The marquis de Sainte-Hermine died under the emigration in London. [Identified
by Olivier Blanc.]
1785 "André Ernest Modeste
Grétry," oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/8" x 23 1/4" (73 x 58.5
cm), signed and dated: LSE VE LE BRUN 1785. Musée National du Château de
Versailles. La Revue du Louvre, 16:4-5:208, 1966; Antiques, Jan
1968, p. 111 (b&w); New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
vol. 7, p. 705 (b&w); color image supplied by Maialen Berasategui. {"1
Grétry."} {"We were often joined at these dinners by Grétry... Mme de
Bonneuil had a charming voice and sang some of Grétry’s duets with her
husband." - Letter III, c. 1773} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited in 1785 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Lived 1741-1813,
French composer.
1785 "Comtesse de
Clermont-Tonnerre as a Sultana," oil on canvas, 38 3/4" x 28
1/8" (98.5 x 71.5 cm), signed and dated upper right: Lse
LeBrun f 1785. Private Collection, Paris. Baillio (2015), p. 179
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 111 (color). {"1 Mme la Comtesse de
Clermont-Tonnerre."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in
1785 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Louise Joséphine Delphine de
Rosières-Sorans (December 1766- 26 October 1832), a daughter of Henri Louis
François de Rosières, marquis de Sorans, and his wife, Marie Louise Elisabeth
de Maillé Brézé de Carman. On 25 February 1782, she married Stanislas Marie
Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre. Dame pour accompagner Madame Elisabeth.
"Mme la Comtesse de
Virieu," oval, unlocated. {"1 Mme la Comtesse de Virieux."} Elisabeth
de Dijon (1760-1837), daughter of Jacques de Dijon and Suzanne de
Narbonne-Pelet. In 1781 she married François Henri, comte de Virieu
(1754-1793). They had two sons, Paul Emile and Aymon, and a daughter Marie
Stéphanie (1785-1873). Olivier Blanc supplied this image and
identification. VLB also lists a "Mme la Comtesse de Virieux" for
1779, where the portrait is of an older sitter. Olivier believes the 1779
sitter is the mother-in-law of the 1785 sitter.
1785 "Victoire Pauline
de Riquet de Caraman, Vicomtesse de Vaudreuil," oil on panel, oval,
32" x 25" (83.2 x 64.8 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA. Art
News, 29:43, 20 Dec 1930; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 161
(b&w); L’Oeil, Mar 1981, p. 41 (color); Baillio (1982), p. 57
(b&w); Apollo, Jul 1989, p. 21 (b&w). {"1 La Vicomtesse de
Vaudreuil."} Victoire-Pauline de Riquet de Caraman (1764-1834). In
1781, she married Jean-Louis, Viscount of Vaudreuil (1763-1816),
lieutenant-General in the armies of the king and son of a family whose members
had been governors of Louisiana and Canada. [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.] See the Baillio (1982) description.
{"2 Copies of the Queen, in full
dress."}
1785 "Suzanne Vigée, the
artist’s sister-in-law," oil on canvas, 22" x 18 1/8" (56 x
46 cm). Private Collection. Baillio (1982), p. 60 (b&w); Art and
Antiques, 6:108, Sep 1989 (color); Baillio (2015), p. 107 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 117 (color). {"1 Mme Vigée."} Suzanne Marie
Françoise de Rivière (19 June 1764-24 June 1811), married Etienne Vigée on 19
October 1784. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1784? "Charles Alexandre
de Calonne," oil on canvas, oval. [See earlier this year, for the
original painting of Calonne.] {"1 Copy of M. de Calonne."}
{"1 M. de Beaujon, for his hospital."}
{"M. de Beaujon once commissioned me to paint his portrait which he
intended to hang in the hospital he had founded … in the Roule district... he
wanted to be painted sitting in front of his desk, down to the knee, with both
hands visible..."- Pen Portraits} The Memoirs imply that this was
VLB’s first portrait of Beaujon, whereas she has it listed as the third, with
one in 1784 and one earlier this year.
1785 "Bacchante,"
oil on panel, 43" x 34 5/8" (109 x 88 cm), signed and dated lower
right: L V Le Brun / 1785, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. Musée
Nissim de Camondo Catalogue (color); Baillio (1982), p. 65
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 20 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 12
(color). {Historical Paintings: "1 Bacchante with tiger skin."}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1785 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.] [California Palace of Legion of Honor has an excellent oil
on canvas copy, which was identified as a VLB in the L.A. Times Book of
California Museums. However, Baillio believes this and the copy at Château
de Pregny are by someone else, and the California museum now identifies the
painting as "after" VLB.] Olivier Blanc suggests that the model was Mlle Duthé
(painting by Perrin Salbreux).
1785 "Bacchante,"
oil on canvas, oval, 28 7/8" x 23 3/8" (73.3 x 59.4 cm), signed and
dated upper middle: Lse Vge Le Brun f 1785.
Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts; Baillio
(1982), p. 22 (color); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); museum
slide (color); Baillio (2015), p. 63 & 135; Baillio (2016),
p. 103 (color). [VLB doesn’t list or mention this Bacchante. Olivier Blanc
suggests that Sophie de Tott could have been the model. For comparison, see a sketch
identified as Mme de Tott.] See the Baillio (1982) description.
1785 "Marie Antoinette,"
oil on canvas, 36 3/4" x 29 1/2" (93.3 x 74.8 cm), signed and
incorrectly dated lower right: L E Vigée Le Brun 1778. Private
collection. American Artist, Jan 1952, p. 47 (b&w); L’Oeil,
Mar 1981, p. 36 (color); Baillio (1982), p. 62 (b&w); Connaissance
des Arts, Feb 1988, p. 53 (color); L’Oeil, 394:1, May 1988 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 8 (color). [Commissioned in 1785 for the Ministère des Affaires
Estrangères. At the age of 82, VLB authenticated the painting, signing it and
adding the wrong date.] See the Baillio (1982) description. A copy,
oil on canvas, is found at Konopiste Castle, Czech Republic.
1785 "Girl Crowned
with Roses / (Laure de Bonneuil ?)," black chalk heightened with red
and white chalk on cream-colored paper, oval within a rectangle, 11 3/4" x
8" (30.2 x 20.2 cm), signed and dated in graphite, lower right: L.V. /
le brun / 1785. Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, Paris. Baillio
(1982), p. 67 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 211. Eléonore
Françoise Augustine Guesnon de Bonneuil, nicknamed Laure. Lived 1775-1857. She
was the daughter of Mme Bonneuil, who was painted by VLB in 1773, and whom VLB
had called the prettiest lady in Paris. [This drawing was presented to the
Louvre by a niece of Laure de Bonneuil, whom VLB painted as an adult (see
1805). While Olivier Blanc considers this to be Laure de Bonneuil, Baillio had
earlier disputed this identification. See the Baillio (1982) description.]
In Baillio (2015), Xavier Salmon considers this model to be the same as
that in "Girl Wearing a Veil," listed below, but considers it
unproven that the sitter was a ten-year-old Laure de Bonneuil.
1785 "Girl Wearing a
Veil," black chalk, stump heightened with white on cream-colored
paper, 11" x 8" (27.8 x 20.4 cm), signed and dated in graphite, lower
left: Louise Vigée Le Brun 1785. Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins,
Paris. Baillio (1982), p. 66 (b&w); L’Oeil, Jun/Jul 1983, p.
34; Baillio (2015), p. 210. See the Baillio (1982) description. In
Baillio (2015), Xavier Salmon considers this model to be the same as
that in "Girl Crowned with Roses," listed above, but considers it
unproven that the sitter was a ten-year-old Laure de Bonneuil.
1785 “Girl Wearing a Veil,”
black chalk, heightened with white, red chalk accents, on cream-colored paper,
35.6 x 24.9 cm. Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for locating image.
1786 "Marie Renée Louise
De Foucquet," oil on canvas, 21 1/2" x 17 3/4" x 13
3/4" (54.5 x 45 mm), signed and dated lower left: Louise Vgee
Le Brun. f. 1786. Comtesse de Selancy, France. Baillio (1982), p. 69
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 195 (color). {"1 Mme Fouquet’s little
daughter."} Marie Renée Louise de Foucquet (1778-1845) was the daughter
of Jean Gabriel Rêne François de Foucquet, seigneur de La Grange, de Manom et
de Brulange, vicomte d’Auvillars, and his wife Marie Louise Eugénie Blondel
d’Aubers. In 1803, the sitter married Anne Pierre, the Vicomte de Bertier de
Sauvigny. The sitter's maternal grandmother was a sister of Charles Alexandre
de Calonne. See the Baillio (1982) description.
{"1 Mme de Tott."} Sophie-Ernestine
de Tott (b. ca. 1770 Constantinople-d. Hungary), daughter of Marie Rambaud and
Baron François de Tott De Varneville de Villefort, a diplomat in Turkey,
Inspecteur général des Etablissements français au Levant. She was called
"Mme" because she was a dame chanoinesse [sequestered in a convent].
She was a painter, who studied briefly with VLB. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.] A drawing
by VLB, 15" x 12 1/2", black and colored chalks on paper, is
identified as Mme de Tott by T. Douwes Dekker of Holland, and was perhaps a
preparatory sketch for VLB’s painting of this sitter.
1786 "Le Petit d’Espagnac,"
oil on canvas, oval, 25" x 20 1/2" (64.7 x 54 cm), Wallace
Collection, London. Connoisseur, Jan 1918, p. 93 (b&w); Baillio
(1982), p. 70 (b&w); museum postcard. {"1 The little
d’Espagnac."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1787 at
the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] The sitter was the son of Jean Joseph
Damarzit, baron d’Espagnac, maréchal de camp et armées du roi, gouverneur de
l’hôtel royal des Invalides. [Biographical information from Olivier Blanc.]
1786 "Caroline Lalive de
La Briche," Private collection, France. Baillio (1982), p. 70
(b&w); Color photo from Witt Library. [The black and white photo in
Baillio is a mirror of this color photo, so perhaps the color photo should be
mirrored.] {"1 The little de la Briche."} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Another photo from the
Witt Library shows a second portrait, 23 1/2" x 19 1/2,"
signed and dated lower right: M. Elith LeBrun 1787 -- but
Baillio had jotted a note that this wasn’t by VLB. Caroline Lalive de La
Briche, who would marry Comte Molé. She was the daughter of Adélaïde Edmée
Prévost (whom VLB painted in 1788), and Alexis Janvier de La Live de La Briche.
1786 "Marguerite
Baudard de Saint James, marquise de Puységur, dressed as milkmaid,"
oil on cradled panel, 41 1/2" x 29 1/4" (105.5 x 74.5 cm), signed and
dated lower left: L Le Brun f. 1786. Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame
University. Apollo, 87:45, Jan 1968 (b&w); museum slide; Baillio
(2016), p. 118 (color). {"1 Mme de Puységur."} Margeurite
Baudard (13 February 1766-18 February 1837), was a daughter of Claude Baudard
de Saint-James and Julie Augustine Thibault Dubois. In 1781, she married Armand
Marie Jacques de Chastenet, marquis de Puységur.
1786 "Madame Molé-Raymond,"
oil on panel, 41" x 30" (104 x 76 cm), Louise Vgée Le
Brun f / 1786, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Connoisseur, Mar 1938, p.
161; Baillio (1982), p. 113 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 30
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 22 (color). An unfinished
portrait or rough sketch, 15" x 18," is now in the Kunsthalle
Bremen, Germany; color photograph from Museum website. {"1 Mme
Raymond."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1787 at
the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Elisabeth Félicité Pinet, born 23 July 1760
in Paris, to Pierrette Claudine Hélène Pinet (called Mlle d’Epinay), an actress
of the Théâtre Français. Her biological father was probably the duke de
Villeroy, but her mother married François Molé, who gave his name to the
sitter. The sitter was an actress at the Comédie-Française. On 29 January 1780,
she married Gabriel François Raymond, secretary of the Marshall de Noailles and
a comedian of the Italian Theater. [Biographical information from Olivier
Blanc.]
1786 "Comtesse Marie
Adélaïde Geneviève d’Andlau," oval. Vigée LeBrun, p. 202
(Doubleday, 1903). {"1 Mme Daudelot."} Countess Marie Adélaïde
Geneviève d'Andlau, née Helvétius (26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish (Paris) -
20 November 1817, chateau de Vore, Remalard), was the daughter of the French
philosopher, Claude Adrien Helvétius and Anne-Catherine "Minette" de
Ligniville d’Autricourt (1722-1800), who came from a prominent aristocratic
family, related to Marie Antoinette. The sitter was famous for her beauty and
personality. In Paris on 27 September 1772, she married François-Antoine Henri
d’Andlau-Hombourg (15 April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20 July 1820, Paris).
They lived in Versailles, and the sitter was close to Marie Antoinette. [Olivier
Blanc presumes that "Daudelot" is a very bad spelling of d'Andlau.
VLB listed the sitter again after 1805, spelled correctly, also painting four
of her children then.]
{"1 Mme Davaray."} Angélique Adélaïde
Sophie de Mailly, daughter of Louis, count de Mailly, marquis de Nesles, and
d’Anne Françoise l’Arbaleste de Melun. In 1758 she married Claude Antoine de
Bésiade, chevalier, marquis D’Avaray, baron de Lussay (1740-?). [Identified
by Olivier Blanc] VLB painted her sister, Mme de Montbarrey, in 1776.
1786 "Comtesse de Sabran et
Pontevès," oil on canvas, oval, 19 5/8" x 15 3/8" (50 x 39
cm), castle Rheinsberg, north of Berlin (formerly in Schloss Charlottenburg,
Berlin). Apollo, 107:front,120 Jun 1978; Burlington, 120:lxxxvii,
Jun 1978 (b&w); Country Life, 163:supp p. 59, 8 Jun 1978; Baillio
(2015), P. 75 (color). {"1 Mme la Comtesse de Sabran."} {"I
first made the acquaintance of Mme la Comtesse de Sabran a few years before the
Revolution." - Pen Portraits} (The sitter was also painted by Houdon,
Sicardi, and Le Sage.)
1786 "Self-Portrait with her
Daughter (Maternal tenderness)," oil on panel, 41 3/8" x 33
1/8" (105 x 84 cm), signed & dated, upper right: Louise Vigée Le
Brun f. 1786. Musée du Louvre, Paris. History of Painting (1911),
vol. 6, p. 254 (color); Baillio (1982), p. 73 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 203 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 28 (color); Iwona
Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 54 (color).
{"1 Self portrait with my daughter."} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] A study, red
chalk, 17" x 15", was located at the Witt Library.
1787 "Julie Le Brun,
reading the Bible," Private collection, NY. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Nov 1980 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 76 (b&w). {"1 My
daughter reading the Bible."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] [Attribution by Joseph
Baillio.]
1787 "Caroline de Murat,
Marquise de Pezay, and Nathalie-Victorienne de Mortemart, Marquise de Rougé,
with Her Sons Alexis-Bonabes and Adrien de Rougé," oil on canvas, 48
5/8" x 61 3/8" (123.4 x 155.9 cm), National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. Antiques, Nov 1967, p. 712 (b&w); Baillio (1982),
p. 23 (color); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); museum slide; Baillio
(2015), p. 206 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 124 (color). {"1 Mme
de Rougé and two sons."} {"...the Marquise de Rougé and Mme de Pezé,
her friend, whom I painted together in the same picture..." - Letter VI}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.] Caroline de Murat was the widow of Alexandre Frédéric
Jacques Masson, Marquis de Pezay, who had died in 1777. Natalie Victurnienne
(d. 1828) was the widow of Bonabes Alexis, Marquis de Rougé, who had died in
1782. Alexis Bonabes Louis Victurnien, 1778-1838. Adrien, 1782-1861. See
the Baillio (1982) description. [Also see the 1788 list for a painting of the
Marquise de Rougé, in riding habit.]
1787 "Actress Dugazon
in the Role of Nina," oil on canvas, 57 7/8" x 45 3/8" (147
x 115 cm), Private Collection, Switzerland. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
6:7:54, Jan 1932 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 180 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 127 (color). {"1 Mme Dugazon in Nina."} {"...she
was the greatest talent the Opéra-Comique ever possessed...I think I went to
see Nina at least twenty times..." - Letter VIII} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Louise-Rosalie
Dugazon, née Lefèbvre (18 June 1755-1821), French soprano. Her husband,
called Dugazon, was born Jean-Henry Gourgaud. He lived 1746-1809, and was an
actor of the Comédie-Française. "Dugazon" has come to mean a singer
who specialises in soubrette roles, usually involving intelligent acting.
[In Letter VIII, VLB also mentioned Mdm Vestris, Dugazon’s sister. This was
Françoise Marie Rosette Gourgaud (1743-1804), who married Angelo Vestris, a
fellow actor of the Comédie-Italienne. Angelo Vestris was a brother of Gaétan
Vestris (1729-1808), considered one of the greatest dancers of all time. Gaétan
and his mistress Marie Allard, a prominent ballerina, had a son, Auguste
Vestris (1760-1842), who was also a great dancer. VLB also mentioned these
dancers in Letter VIII. Auguste in turn had a son, Auguste Armand Vestris
(1788-1825), again a dancer, though he is best remembered as the first husband
of the English actress and theatrical manager, Madame Lucia Elizabeth
(Bartolozzi) Vestris (1797-1856).]
1787 "Joseph Caillot,"
oil on canvas, 36 1/4" x 28 3/8" (92 x 72 cm). Private Collection,
Paris. Baillio (2015), p. 182 (color). {"1 Cailleau, in hunting
costume."} {"He wore the uniform [of the Captain of the Hunt] and
this was how I painted him, his rifle on his shoulder. So inspiring was his
handsome laughing face that I managed to complete the painting in one
sitting." - Letter VIII} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited
in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Joseph Caillot (24 January 1733,
Paris – 30 September 1816, Paris), actor and singer who starred from 1760-72,
performing sporadically afterwards. On 15 August 1779, he married Marie
Augustine "Blanchette" Saÿde, daughter of an optician and jeweler. It
is known that the couple had a daughter, Augustine Catherine Caillot (2
September 1780, Passy - after 1822) and a son, Armand Charles Caillot
(1788-1813). The sitter was an avid hunter, and served as mayor in Saint
Germain, ca. 1813.
1787 "Augustine
Catherine Caillot," pastel, oval, 18 1/2" x 15" (45 x 37.5
cm). Collection of Michel Delrue. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists
Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio (2015), p. 221 (color).
Auctioned as the work of Greuze, but Baillio in L’Oeil, Jun 1993, p. 25,
felt the painting was the work of VLB.{"2 His two children."}
Assuming this painting is the work of VLB and represents the daughter of
Caillot, the sitter would be: Augustine Catherine Caillot (2 September 1780,
Passy - after 1822). In March 1822 she married Pierre Simon Godar (or Godard).
1787 "Son of the actor
Caillot?," pastel, oval, 18 1/2" x 15" (45 x 37.5 cm).
Collection of Michel Delrue. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before
1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio (2015), p. 220 (color). Auctioned
as the work of Greuze, but Baillio in L’Oeil, Jun 1993, p. 24, felt the
painting was the work of VLB.{"2 His two children."} The only record
of a son of Caillot is Armand Charles Caillot (1788-1813), who was not even
born in 1787. Perhaps there was another son not listed in the records, or the
sitter is another relative.
ca. 1786-87 "Julie Le Brun,
looking in a mirror," oil on panel, 28 3/4" x 23 3/4" (73 x
60.3 cm), Collection of Michel David-Weill. Art News, 6 Nov 1937, cover;
Art Digest, 15 Feb 1938, p. 10 (b&w); Art News, Jan 1971, p.
34; Baillio (1982), p. 24 (color); L’Oeil, Jun 1982, p. 72; Baillio
(2015), p. 194 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 129 (color). {"1 My
daughter, in profile."} See the Baillio (1982) description.
ca. 1786-87 "Julie Le Brun,
looking in a mirror," oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 23 3/8"
(73 x 59.5 cm), Private collection, Paris. Baillio (2016), p. 128
(color). {"1 The same, looking in a mirror."}
{"1 Mme de la Grange."} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] {"1
Mme de la Grange."} Angélique Adélaïde de Méliand, daughter of Charles
Blaise de Méliand, maître des requêtes puis conseiller d’Etat, and Marie Louise
Adélaïde du Quesnoy. On 5 January 1766 she married François Joseph Le Lièvre,
marquis de Fourilles et de La Grange, brigadier des Armées du roi et sous
lieutenant de la compagnie des mousquetaires. [Identified by Olivier
Blanc.] First painted by VLB in 1774.
1787 "Queen Marie Antoinette
and Her Children," 108 1/4" x 85 1/4" (275 x 216.5 cm),
signed and dated lower left: L Vigée. Le Brun. 1787. Musée National du
Château de Versailles. Antiques, Nov 1967, p. 710 (b&w); Baillio
(1982), p. 80 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 159 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 120 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and
Poles (2016), p. 24 (color). {"1 Large painting of Queen
Marie-Antoinette and her children."} {"I painted her head for the
large canvas … as well as separate studies for the Premier Dauphin, the Madame
Royale and the Duc de normandie." - Letter V; "It showed Marie
Antoinette with the first Dauphin and Madame by her side and the Duc de
Normandie on her knee." - Chap. XXXIV} [Referenced in Baillio (1982)
as exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale, and also at the Salon
of 1817.] [The empty cradle is a reference to Princess Sophie, who was born and
died in 1786.]
{"1 Self-portrait."}
1787 "Comtesse de Béon,"
oil on canvas, oval. Vigée Le Brun, her life, works and friendship, by
William Henry Helm, p. 15. (Sold by Parke Bernet, NY, Jan. 28, 1949, lot 282.)
Helm gives the size as 35" x 27 1/2," while an image found in the
Witt Library shows the size as 36" x 38 1/2." [One portrait was at
the ?Mauléon collection, Chalabre, France. One is listed as sold 6/7/1912 by
Christie’s, London, to Thrift, £.1627.] {"2 Mme la Comtesse de
Béon."} [Per Baillio (1982), one of these two portraits was
exhibited in 1787 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Born
Marie-Madeleine-Charlotte de Béon du Massès de Cazeaux, nièce du bailli de
Montauroux; one of the ladies "pour accompagner" Madame Adélaïde de
France since 1782. In 1779 she married François-Frédéric, comte de Béon-Béarn,
officier des gardes du corps du roi, who emigrated and died in 1802. In 1805,
Mme de Béon married comte Prosper d’Hautpoul. {Biographical information
from Olivier Blanc.}
{"1 M Le Jeune."}
{"3 Monsieur, the Dauphin; Madame; and
M. le Duc de Normandie, for Mme de Polignac."}
{"3 Monsieur, the Dauphin; Madame; and
M. le Duc de Normandie, for Mme de Polignac."}
{"3 Monsieur, the Dauphin; Madame; and M.
le Duc de Normandie, for Mme de Polignac."} Louis Charles, later
Louis XVII, 1785-1795.
{"1 Mme de Verdun’s aunt."}
{"1 La Duchesse de Guiche, holding a garland
of flowers."}
{"1 The same in pastel."}
{1 "The Duchesse de Polignac with straw
hat."} This listing is an erroneous duplication. The painting of the
Duchesse de Polignac was prepared in 1782, and appears in the list for that
year, above.
1783 "Yolande
Gabrielle Martine de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac," 38 3/4" x
28" (98.4 x 71.1 cm), National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. Waddesdon
Manor Catalogue; Baillio (1982), p. 53 (b&w); The Sweetness
of Life (b&w). {"1 The same, holding a sheet of music and singing
by a piano."} Baillio states that the painting was completed in 1783,
despite its listing here in 1787.
{"1 Mme de Chatenay, mother."} [The
Comtesse de Chastenay appears in VLB’s list for 1782, though the portrait
(listed there) is believed to date closer to 1785, when it was exhibited.
Baillio believes this is an erroneous duplicate listing, and thinks
"mother" is meant to distinguish the sitter from her more famous
daughter, Louise Marie Victorine, 1771-1815.]
{"1 Mme Dubarry, full-length."} This is
an erroneous placement (and description), which must refer to the knee-length
portrait, dated 1782. I have moved the description and information of the
painting to the end of the 1782 list.
{"1 The same, in her robe."} This is an
erroneous duplication of the 1781 listing, "1 La Comtesse Dubarry."
“Yolande Gabrielle Martine de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac,”
oil on canvas. L'Illustration, No. 4575 (1930) {"1 Mme de
Polignac."} The article was about L'Hôtel de Ville d'Alençon. [Thanks to
Angela Demutskiy for locating this image.]
1787 "Mohammed
Dervisch-Khan," oil on canvas, 88 3/4" x 53 1/2" (225.5 x
136 cm). Marnier-Lapostolle collection, France. J.F. Heim, C. Beraud, P. Heim, Les
Salons de peinture de la Revolution francaise 1789-1799 (Paris, 1989),
p.383 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 167 (color). {"...ambassadors
were sent to Paris by the Emperor Tipoo-Saïb. ...the larger of the two, whose
name was Davich Khan … I painted him standing, his hand on his dagger." -
Letter IV} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1789 at the
Salon de l’Académie Royale.]
1787 "Mohammed Usman-Khan," oil on
canvas, 72" x 42 1/8" (183 x 107 cm). Unlocated. {"I … started
drawing the old ambassador who sat with his son beside him...They were both
dressed in gowns of white muslin, embroidered with gold flowers; these robes, a
kind of tunic with large sleeves folded back at the cuff, were fastened at the
waist with richly decorated belts." - Letter IV} [Referenced in Baillio
(1982) as exhibited in 1789 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Tipoo-Saïb
sought an alliance with the French to oust the English from India. The
ambassadors failed, and Tipoo-Saïb had them beheaded upon their return.
{"1 Le Duc de Polignac."}{"...Comte
Jules de Polignac … became Duke in 1780." - Chap. XII, Footnote 1} Armand-Jules-
Francois, lived 1745-1817.
{"1 His father."} Louis-Melchior-Armand,
vicomte de Polignac was born 1717, died after 1792. He married twice. By
Marie-Zephirine Mancini (d. before 1777) he had Armand-Jules-Francois, le duc
de Polignac (1745-1817), Philippe-Jules-Francois (1747-?), and two daughters.
By Madeleine-Elizabeth de Fleury (d. 1788) he had Heraclius-Auguste- Gabriel,
comte de Polignac (1788-1871), and Elisabeth-Julie-Diane (1785-?), who married
Sabakhin, chancellor of Russia.
1788 "Auguste-Jules-Armand-Marie,
prince Jules de Polignac as a child," oil on canvas, 40" x 32
1/2." Owned by the Cincinnati Art Museum from 1927 through 1987, when it
was deaccessioned. It was sold at Leslie Hindman Gallery, Chicago, on 23 June
1988, lot 588 - (Per correspondence from John Wilson, Curator of Painting and
Sculpture, to C.S. Stein). [Not listed or mentioned by VLB; she did list a
pastel done in Vienna (1792-95) of “two brothers of the duchesse de Guiche,”
probably this sitter and his younger brother.] Auguste-Jules-Armand-Marie
(1780-1847), the second son of the duc and duchesse de Polignac, became comte
in 1817, and was made prince in 1820 by Pope Pius VII. He served as prime
minister of Charles X.
1788 "Hubert Robert,"
oil on panel, 41 3/8" x 33 1/8" (105 x 84), signed at upper right: E.
Vigée Le Brun. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Antiques, Jan 1968, p. 111
(b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 94 (b&w); Art and Antiques,
6:108, Sep 1989 (color); Paintings in the Louvre, by Lawrence Gowing, p.
577; J.F. Heim, C. Beraud, P. Heim, Les Salons de peinture de la Revolution
francaise 1789-1799 (Paris, 1989) (b&w); The Sweetness of Life
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 186 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 29
(color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p.
44 (color). {"1 Robert, the landscape painter, for myself."}
{"...I painted one of my best portraits, that of Robert, palette in
hand." - Letter IX} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in
1789 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Hubert Robert (22 May 1733 – 15
April 1808) was a French artist noted for his landscape paintings.
"Mme
Geneviève Sophie Le Couteulx du Molay," oil on canvas, 39 3/8" x
31 1/8," Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. L’Oeil, Sep 1988, p. 54.
{"1 Mme Dumoley."} {"In the summer of 1788, I went to spend a
fortnight at Malmaison, which then belonged to the Comtesse du Molay" -
Letter XI} Geneviève Sophie Le Couteulx de la Noraye, wife of Jacques-Jean
Le Couteulx du Molay. VLB also painted the sitter in 1781. [Identified by
Olivier Blanc.]
"Adélaïde de La Briche," Noailles collection in Chateau
de Champlatreux. {"1 Mme de la Briche."}Adélaïde Edmée Prévost,
born in Nancy on 12 September 1755; died in Paris on 29 January 1844. She was
the daughter of Bon Prévost, receveur général des fermes du duché de Lorraine.
In 1780, she married Alexis Janvier de La Live de La Briche (1735-30 July
1785), who in 1764 became introducteur des ambassadeseurs depuis and who in
1777 became secrétair honoraire des commanbdements de la reine
Marie-Antoinette. He was the brother of Mme d’Houdetot. The couple’s daughter,
Caroline, was painted by VLB in 1786. [Image and information courtesy of
Olivier Blanc.] Another version is published in Autour de la Madeleine, art,
littérature et société, Action artistique de la Ville de Paris, Paris, May
2005, p.98, in an article by Olivier Blanc.
1788 "Comtesse de
Beaumont," 102 x 81 cm, Private Collection, Paris. {"1 Mme la
Comtesse de Beaumont."} Illustrated by Marie-Louise Pailleron, Pauline
de Beaumont, l’Hirondelle de Chateaubriand, Paris, Éditions Excelsior,
1930. Pauline de Montmorin Saint-Hérem (1768-1803), who married comte
François de Beaumont ca. 1786, divorced 1800. [Information from Olivier
Blanc; color photo found by Angela Demutskiy.] Also on VLB’s list for 1776.
{"1 The young Baron d’Escars."} Probably
a son of Jean-François Perusse d’Escars, capitaine des Gardes du Comte
d’Artois (1747-1822) and Pauline-Louise-Joséphine de Laborde
(1767-1792). The couple is known to have had a daughter Euphrosine, born in
1787 and another child who died in 1789. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 The young Prince Lubomirski."} This
may represent a study in pastel or oil for the following listing.
1787-88 "Young Prince Lubomirski,
amour de la gloire," oil on oak, 41 1/2" x 32 5/8" (105.5 x
83 cm), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Art News, 55:44, Jun 1956 (b&w); Apollo,
87:144, Feb 1968 (b&w); Masterworks of the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin,
p. 415 (color); Baillio (2015), p. 198 (color); Baillio (2016),
p. 135 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles
(2016), p. 37 (color). Prince Henryk Lubomirski (15 Sep 1777-1850), the son
of Prince Jozef Lubomirski and Ludwika Sosnowska. He married 24 May 1807 to
Princess Teresa Czartoryska, whom VLB would paint in Dresden in 1801. A
copy on canvas, shown as: 1788 "The Young Prince Lubomirski as
Amour," oil on canvas, 42" x 34," was attributed to V. Lebrun
and studio, in Architectural Digest, Jun 1990, p. 8 (color). {"1
The same, in love with Glory."} {"I had just used the wreath whilst
painting the young prince, Henry Lubomirski, in The Love of Glory; I had
depicted him kneeling before a laurel bush weaving a crown from its
leaves." - Letter VII} {"...Princess Lubomirska, whom I had known in
Paris at the time when I painted the portrait of her nephew in Amour de
la gloire..." - Chap. XII} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited in 1789 at the Salon de l’Académie Royale.]
1788 "Alexandrine Emilie
Brongniart," oil on panel, 25 5/8" x 20 7/8" (65.1 x 53.3
cm), National Gallery, London. La Revue du Louvre, 24:2:108, 1974; Baillio
(1982), p. 35 (b&w); museum postcard; Baillio (2015), p. 197
(color). {"1 The young Brongniart."} {"[T]wo of my good friends,
Brongniart the architect and his wife, came to visit me ..." - Letter XII}
[Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1789 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale.] Alexandrine-Emilie Brongniart (15 September 1780 - 18
March 1847), daughter of the architect Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart
(1739-1813) and his wife, Anne Louise d'Égremont (1741-1829). In 1801, the
sitter married Louis-André Pichon (1771-1854), a diplomat and future baron. He
negotiated the sale of the Louisiana colony. He served as consul general, ambassador,
Secretary General at the Ministry of Justice, and a state councilor. The couple
had four children, three of whom survived to adulthood.
1787-88 "Marquise de
Grollier," oil on panel, 36 3/16" x 28 1/4" (92 x 72 cm).
Comte Jean-François de Roussy de Sales, Château de Thorens, Thorens-Glieres. Baillio
(1982), p. 77 (b&w); Art Journal, 42:4:335-8, Winter 1982; Baillio
(2015), p. 185 (color). {"1 The Marquise de Grollier."} Charlotte
Eustache Sophie de Fuligny Damas (21 December 1741-1828) was the youngest
daughter of Henri Anne de Fuligny Damas, seigneur d’Agey (1669-1745) and Marie
Gabrielle de Pons de Rennepont (1709-79). In 1760, she married in Lyonnais to
Pierre Louis, marquis de Grollier et de Treffort, seigneur de Pont-d’Ain
(1730-93), capitaine du régiment de Foix-infanterie. They had three
children:(1) Gabriel, born c.1761 and died by 1783.(2) Claudine
Alexandrine was born in 1763; she married Benoît Maurice marquis de Sales;
and she died after 1809. (3) Antoine Charles Eugène (cited as
Joseph Eugène by Poidebard), was born in 1765 and died in 1810 .
[Timothy Boettger provided some biographical information and noted that the
sitter's husband improperly usurped the title Marquis: while he owned the
marquisate of Treffort, that only entitled him to the style of seigneur du
marquisat de Treffort, per Revue du Lyonnais 1867, p. 120.]The sitter is also
on VLB’s list for 1789, and following her return to Paris in 1805. The sitter
was also painted several times by Fabre. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1787 "Alexandre Charles
Emmanuel, bailli de Crussol," oil on panel, 35 3/8" x 25
1/2" (89.9 x 64.8 cm), signed and dated upper right L.se E.bet
Vigée: LeBrun: P.xte 1787. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Art
Quarterly, 15 no. 2: 170-8, 1952; Antiques, Jan 1968, p. 112
(b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 78 (b&w); Art & Antiques,
Sep 1989, p. 108; museum postcard; Baillo (2015), p. 33 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 130 (color). {"The Bailly de Crussol."} {"...in
September 1789 … I receive[d] payment in full for a portrait; it was from the
Bailly de Crusol..." - Letter VII} Lived 1743-1815, he was for many
years the companion of the Marquise de Grollier, listed above. The pair also
appear on VLB’s list for 1789, and again after her return to Paris. Those other
paintings are not known; it’s possible that VLB erred in recording her list. Thanks
to Timothy Boettger for correcting the sitter's year of birth and for
correcting his title (some sources say duc d’Uzès, but that
title belonged to another branch of the Crussol family, whereas this
sitter belonged to the Florensac branch).
{"1 Mme de La Guiche, as a milkmaid."}
This is probably an erroneous duplication. See listing for 1783.
{"1 M. le Comte d’Angiviller."}
{"Charles-Claude Labillarderie, Comte d’Angiviller, had been Director
General of the Royal Buildings as well as the Royal Academies and
Workshops." - Pen Portraits, Footnote 2}
1788 "Nathalie-Victorienne
de Mortemart, Marquise de Rougé," oil on canvas, oval, 32" x
25½”. There is an identifying inscription on the reverse of the relining
canvas: “victorienne delphine natalie de Rochechoüart Mortemart. M.qui de
Rougé. peint en 1788.” Sold Christie's, London, 2 December 2008, Sale 5433,
Lot 144 ($15,810). [Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for the color image and
information.] [VLB had listed “1 Mme de Rougé and her two sons” in 1787, but
did not list this separate painting of the sitter.]
1788 "Queen Marie
Antoinette ("en robe de velours bleu")," oil on canvas, 106
5/8" x 76 3/4" (271 x 195 cm), signed and dated on column: E.
Vigée Le Brun / 1788. Musée National du Château de Versailles. Antiques,
Nov 1967, p. 711 (b&w); Baillio (2016), p. 133 (color). This version
of the painting features a four-strand pearl necklace. Baillio (1982)
reports a half-length studio copy (perhaps this copy), is in the
collection of the Marquis de Moustier, Château de Bournel, France. Ballio
(1982) also cited a pastel owned by the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota,
Florida. However, this pastel, which is not on display, was identified as being
"after VLB" by the Associate Registrar, Rebecca Engelhardt, in an
e-mail note to C.S. Stein, 18 March 1998.
ca. 1788 "Queen Marie
Antoinette ("en robe de velours bleu")," oil on canvas, 109
1/2" x 75 1/2" (278 x 192 cm). New Orleans Museum of Art. Baillio
(1982), p. 79 (b&w); museum website. This version of the painting does
not include a necklace. See the Baillio (1982) description.
ca. 1788 "Queen Marie Antoinette ("en
robe de velours bleu")," [~] black chalk on cream paper, 9 1/8"
x 7 1/2" (23.2 x 18.8 cm), Musée National du Château de Versailles. Baillio
(2016), p. 132. Baillio has made this attribution, and considers the work
to be a ricordo, a studio record that is made after completion of an
artwork.
1788 "Laure de Bonneuil," sketch. {Not
listed or mentioned by VLB.} Eléonore Françoise Augustine Guesnon de
Bonneuil, nicknamed Laure de Bonneuil. Lived 1775-1857. She would later marry
the French statesman Michel Louis Etienne Régnault de Saint Jean d´Angély
(1762-1819), who was the Conseiller d´Etat under the Consulat, Secretaire
d´Etat to the Imperial family in 1810, and Ministre d´Etat under Napoleon in
1814. VLB would paint her as a married lady, in 1805. The sitter was the
daughter of Mme Bonneuil, who was painted by VLB in 1773, and whom VLB had
called the prettiest lady in Paris. [Olivier Blanc reports that this sketch
was prepared when Laure was 12, while she was a guest at VLB’s famous Greek
Supper.]
1789 "Marquis de Chastellux,"
29 1/2" x 23 5/8," Comte Louis de Chastellux. Washington National
Portrait Gallery, "Abroad in America: Visitors to the New World,"
1976, no. 1; Apollo, ns 104:134, Aug 1976 (b&w). {"1 M. de
Chatellux, from memory."} Marquis Francois-Jean de Chastellux
(1734-1788), married (1787) to Marie-Brigitte Plunkett, who died 1815. He was
the younger son of comte de Chastellux. His father died when he was very young,
and he was raised by his guardian, chancellor d´Aguesseau (a relative of his
mother). [Biographical information courtesy of Jana Talkenberg.]
{"1 The Duke de Normandie,
full-length."}
1789 "Madame Adélaïde
Pérrégaux," oil on panel, 39 1/4" x 30 7/8" (99.6 x 78.5
cm), signed and dated lower left: Louise Vigée Le Brun f. 1789.
Wallace Collection, London. Connoisseur, Mar 1919, p. 171; Baillio
(1982), p. 128 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 31 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 23 (color). {"1 Mme Péregaux."} Adélaïde Harenc de
Praël (baptized 7 September 1758, Paris - died 22 January 1794, Paris), was
born to Bernardin du Praël, comte du Praël de Surville (1733-?), chevalier de
Saint Louis,capitaine attaché au service de l'infanterie, and his wife Louis
d'Alix-Geffrier. The sitter married on 20 January 1779, in Longpont-sur-Orge
(91), to a Swiss banker, Jehan Frédéric Perregaux (4 September 1744, Neuchâtel,
Switzerland -17 February 1808, Viry-Chatillon). The couple had one son and one
daughter.
"Antoinette-Elizabeth-Marie d’Aguesseau, Comtesse de Ségur,"
oval, unlocated. Image from Olivier Blanc. {"1 Mme de Ségur,
profile."} {..."in 1788 … I left … to spend a few days at
Romainville, the home of the Maréchal de Ségur..." - Letter XI} Also see
VLB’s portrait of 1785.
{"1 Large portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette
for the Baron de Breteuil."}
"Duchess de la
Rochefoucauld," pastel on paper, mounted on canvas, oval, 39 3/8"
x 33" (100 x 84 cm). Private collection (sold by Sotheby’s on 6 December
1987). Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn
Press 2006); Baillio (2015), p. 223 (color). {"1 The Duchess de la
Rochefoucauld."} Alexandrine-Charlotte-Sophie de Rohan-Chabot,
duchesse de La Rochefoucauld (and later Marquise de Castellane) (1763 - 14
December 1839). Her parents were Louis Antoine Auguste de Rohan Chabot, duc de
Chabot (1703-1807), an officer of the armée royale, and his wife, Elisabeth
Louise de La Rochefoucauld d’Enville (1740-88). On 13 March 1780, she was
married to a maternal uncle, Louis Alexandre, duc de la Rochefoucauld d’Enville
(1743-92). In 1810, she married a cousin, Boniface Louis, marquis de Castellane
(1758-1837). An image of a different
version was provided by Angela Demutskiy. [Photo courtesy of Charles
Vatinel and Olivier Blanc.] Another painting of "Mme de Castellane,"
oil on canvas, attributed to VLB, was at the Musée Fragonard, Grasse (the image
being located at the Witt Library).
{"1 A small cupid for M. le Pelletier de
Morfontaine."}
1789 "Louise Marie Adélaïde
de Penthièvre, The Duchesse d’Orléans," oil on panel, 43 1/4" x
33," signed and dated upper right: Louise Le Brun f. 1789.
Collection Comte de Paris, Fondation Saint Louis, Château d’Amboise. Antiques,
Nov 1967, p. 712 (b&w); Art in America, Nov 1982, p. 74; Baillio
(1982), p. 25 (color); Burlington, 124:526, Aug 1982. {"1 Mme
la Duchesse d’Orléans."} Born in Paris, 13 March 1753, the daughter of
Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Theresa
Felicitas of Modena (who died the following year). At age 15, following the
death of her brother, she became the sole heiress to what would become the
largest fortune in France.On 5 April 1769, she married Louis Philippe Joseph
d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres (13 April 1747 – executed 6 November 1793). During
the Revolution, she was imprisoned and had her properties seized. In 1797, she
was exiled to Spain, returning to France in 1814 and recovering most of her
properties. She died in her castle in Ivry-sur-Seine on 23 June 1821.
Baillio notes that other copies, including two at Versailles, are not by VLB.
See the Baillio (1982) description. However, Angela Demutskiy believes that one of
these is a signature
copy, oil on canvas, 99 x 83 cm (38.9 x 32.6 cm), located at Versailles
(acquired in 1836), currently on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts Marseilles
(since 1949). Angela agrees that a weaker copy at Versailles, oil on canvas,
39.76 x 32.67 in (101 x 83 cm), is by an anonymous hand.
{"1 Self-portrait with my daughter, for M.
d’Angiviller."}
{"1 Mme de Grollier."} This may be an
erroneous repetition of the earlier portrait (listed under 1788), or perhaps a
copy of that painting.
{"1 Le Bailly de Crussol."} This may
be an erroneous repetition of the earlier 1787 portrait (listed under 1788), or
perhaps a copy of that painting.
1789 "Melanie de
Rochechoüart, Marquise d’Aumont, La duchesse de Piennes," oval,
28" x 22 1/2," signed and dated. Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, Switzerland. Connaissance
des Arts, 320:52, Oct 1978 (detail, color). {"1 Mme d’Aumont."}
[Sold at Christies, Rononcz, Hungary, July 5, 1907. The same (or another) VLB
portrait of this sitter was sold April 13-14, 1945, for $6,500, at the sale of
Vte V.M. Rosenthal.] Madeleine Melanie Henriette Charlotte de Rochechouart
married Louis Marie Celeste d’Aumont on August 6, 1781. They had two sons (born
1782 and 1785). She died 21 April 1790. Her widower then married his mistress,
Francoise Fortunee de Chauvigny de Blot, in 1791. [Information courtesy
John R. Barberie, a cousin of the sitter.]
ca. 1789 "Yolande Martine de
Polastron, duchess de Polignac," pastel, 15 3/4" x 12 5/8"
(40 x 32 cm). Gramont collection. Les Gramont Portraits de famille; Baillio
(2015), p. 254 (color). {"2 Msme de Polignac."}{"One day as
I was doing her profile at Versailles . . ." - Souvenirs} It is
unknown if this VLB intended this pastel to be one of the listed portraits of
Duchess de Polignac for 1789, but it seems to correspond to her description in Souvenirs
of painting a profile of the sitter at Versailles.
after 1790 “Duchesse de
Polignac? (lady wearing a bonnet and scarf),” black and white chalk with
stumping on gray-beige paper, 16 3/4” x 10 1/2” (42.2 x 26.9 cm), private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 255 (color); Baillio (2016), p.
140 (color). Sold by Christie's London, 4 July 2000, lot 184 for $21,341. This
sketch may have been prepared from the above-listed pastel. However, it is
believed that the costume dates to the early 1790s and was therefore prepared
later.
{"2 Mme de Guiche, a pastel."}
{"1 Mme de Pienne."} See "Mme
d’Aumont," above. Did VLB err and list the same sitter twice, or was
"Mme de Pienne" a different sitter from "Melanie de
Rochechoüart, Marquise d’Aumont, La duchesse de Piennes"?
1789 "Comtesse de La
Châtre," oil on canvas, 45" x 34 1/2" (114.3 x 87.6 cm), not
signed or dated, Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y. Published in Masters in
Art as "Marquise de Jaucourt" (which was her title later in
life); Baillio (1982), p. 84 (b&w); Metropolitan Museum of Art
Guide, 1983 (color); Baillio (2015), p. 189 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 136 (color). {"1 Mme de la Châtre."} Marie
Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé de La Châtre, 1762-1848. Her mother was Therese
Tissier, and her father was Louis-Dominique Bontemps, the personal manservant
to Louis XV. Her father’s sister was married to Nicolas Beaujon, whom VLB also
painted. The sitter married her first husband, Claude-Louis La Châtre
(1745-1824), comte (later duc) de La Châtre, on 2 June 1778. They divorced in
1793. On 9 January 1799, she married Arnail François, Marquis de Jaucourt
(1757-1852). See the Baillio (1982) description.
1789 "Portrait of a Lady
(Marquise de Fresnes d’Aguesseau?), oil on panel, 42 1/8" x 32
3/4" (107 x 83.2 cm), signed and dated: Mde LeBrun / 1789.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Art News, Feb 1946, p. 82; Gazette
des Beaux Arts, May 1956, p. 248; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980,
p. 163 (b&w). {"1 Mme de Fresne-d’Aguesseau."} [Baillio notes
that the sitter requested that VLB paint her with the same Wedgwood medallion
worn by the Duchesse d’Orléans, in her painting from earlier in the year, which
was very-well received.] Marie-Catherine de Lamoignon de Basville (ca.
1758-1849), who in 1775 married Henri-Cardin-Jean-Baptiste d’Aguesseau (d.
1826). He was the brother of Antoinette- Elizabeth- Marie d’Aguesseau, Comtesse
de Ségur, whom VLB also painted. [Attribution by Joseph Baillio.]
1789 "Philippe Henri,
Marquis de Ségur," oil on panel, 45 1/4" x 31 1/2" (115 x
80.1 cm). Musée National du Château de Versailles. This is a signature copy of
the original, which is in the Baron de Villenueve’s collection, château des
roches. Another copy is in the Musée des augustins of Toulouse. Antiques,
Jan 1968, p. 113 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 165 (color). {"1 Le
Maréchal de Ségur."} {"... in 1788 … I left … to spend a few days at
Romainville, the home of the Maréchal de Ségur..." - Letter XI} ["He
is posed in such a manner that the spectator is not immediately aware that the
left sleeve is empty; the arm had been shot away at the battle of Laufeld in
1747."- Ilse Bischoff, Antiques, Jan 1968.] Lived 1724-1801, appointed
minister of war in 1780, maréchal de France in 1783.
{"1 Madame and Monsieur, le Dauphin."}
The original painting was executed in 1784 and is listed there; this may be a
smaller autograph replica, executed after the death of the dauphin. One replica
(the autograph one?) was 116 x 96 cm, formerly in the Roberto Polo collection,
auctioned May 30, 1988 by Ader-Picard-Tajin, Paris.
{"1 Robert, the landscape painter."}
{"1 My daughter, small oval."}
1789 "Mme Chalgrin,"
oil on canvas, 58.5 x 70.3 cm, Private Collection, France. {"1 Mme
Chalgrin."} Marguerite-Emilie-Félicité Vernet, baptised 1760, the
daughter of Joeph Vernet and Cecilia Virginia Parker. In 1776 she married
Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, Intendant des Bâtiments de Monsieur, le comte
de Provence. Their daughter, Louise-Josèphe Chalgrin, was born in 1777, and in
1794 married Claude Maurin Saugrain of the familiy of Parisian engravers. She
was a close friend of Rosalie Bocquet Filleul and VLB. She was arrested at Mme
Filleul’s home; both were guillotined in July 1794. [Biographical
information by Oivier Blanc.] Olivier Blanc has identified this oil on canvas,
which he photographed, as being VLB's portrait of Mme Chalgrin. In contrast,
the 2015 Paris Exhibition, under Joseph Baillio's direction, presented a pastel on paper
as VLB's painting. Olivier takes very strong exception to this, as he discusses
here in French, including the fact that the hairstyle of
the pastel dates from the Revolution of 1794-99 and thus is completely wrong
for a 1789 portrait, and also the fact that the sitter's eye color is not the
same as that shown in a portrait
by Lépicié of Mme Chalgrin (before her marriage). The pastel had been
published in 1910 by Edmond Cleray, Les arts et les artistes, as a work
by Rosalie Filleul. Olivier first saw the pastel in 1992 in the Jean
d'Arodes collection in Château de Chevenières (45230 Montbouy), and he agrees
with the earlier view that it is the work of Mme Filleul.
1789 "Self Portrait,"
pastel on paper, 19 3/4" x 15 3/4" (50 x 40 cm), inscribed on
reverse: 28. novbre 1816 / Légué par Mr Menageot / a Mme
Nigris- / Ce dessin représente Mme Le Brun / il est fait par
elle-même. Private Collection, L’Oeil, Jun 1993; Baillio (2015),
p. 87 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 138 (color). {"1 Self portrait,
pastel."} While this listing is placed in the "1789 section" and
not the post-exile section "In Parma, Bologna, Turin and Florence"
(below), it is possible that it refers to this pastel of VLB wearing simple
traveling clothes. The pastel was a gift to the painter François Guillaume
Ménageot, director of the Académie de France in Rome, and would have been
prepared withint the first few months of VLB's exile from France.
{"1 The portrait of Joseph Vernet, now in the
museum."} VLB erred in this listing; the painting was actually done in
1778, and is listed there.
1789 "Prince of Nassau,"
oil on canvas, 21 1/4" x 14 1/2", The winds of revolution : a loan
exhibition for the benefit of the French Institute/Alliance Francaise, November
14-December 28, 1989 by Joseph Baillio, p. 44. {"1 Le Prince de
Nassau, full-length."} VLB had painted the prince in 1776. See that
listing for his earlier biography. After that date, he fought for Spain against
the British, and became a successful mercenary for the Russians under Catherine
II and Potemkin. In 1788, he destroyed the Ottoman fleet, and Catherine allowed
him to acquire land holdings in Poland, then sent him on diplomatic missions.
While in France, VLB apparently painted him for the second time.
[Attribution and biographical information from Joseph Baillio.]
1789 "Self Portrait with
Daughter (à la Grecque),"oil on panel, 51 1/8" x 37" (130 x
94 cm). Musée du Louvre, Paris. Antiques, Nov 1967, p. 706 (b&w); Fine
Art Reproductions of Old & Modern Masters, New York Graphic Society,
1976, p. 121 (color); Baillio (1982), p. 75 (b&w); The Sweetness
of Life (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 35 (color); Baillio (2016),
p. 27 (color). {"1 Self-portrait, holding my daughter in my arms."}
{"1 Mme Raymond, with her child."}
{"2 Mme de Simiane."} See also
portrait of 1783.
1789 "Mme Pierre
Rousseau with her Daughter," oil on panel, 45 1/2" x 34"
(115.5 x 86.5 cm), signed & dated (lower right): L. Vigee Le Brun f.
1789. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Beaux Arts, 7:4, Jun 1929 (b&w);
J.F. Heim, C. Beraud, P. Heim, Les Salons de peinture de la Revolution
francaise 1789-1799 (Paris, 1989) (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 34
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 31 (color). {"2 Mme
Rousseau."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1789 at
the Salon de l’Académie Royale.] Marie-Adrienne Potain, daughter of
Nicolas-Marie Potain. She was widowed from the architect Leroux, and in 1778
remarried to Pierre Rousseau. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Mme Duvernais."}
{"1 Mme de Saint-Alban."} Also listed
in 1781.
{"1 Mme Savigni."} VLB had also listed a
“Mme Savigny” for 1779, though that may have been a different sitter. Olivier
Blanc suggests that the sitter for the 1789 portrait was: Mme Chabenat de
Savigny. Marie Gassot de Férolles de Boisgisson, born ca. 1755 to René Gassot,
esquire and Anne Madeleine Saumard. She was married 16 Nov. 1783 in Bourges
(Cher) to Mathias de Chabenat de Savigny, capitaine commandant du Régiment
Médoc et Chevalier de Saint-Louis (son of René, baron de Nohant et de Savigny).
They had two Children: Etienne-Victor and Rose.
{"1 Mlle Dorion."} Also listed for
1768-1772.
"Mlle Contat," oil on board, oval, 30
3/4" x 24 3/4", in 1890 belonged to comte d’Armaillé. {"I had to
leave several portraits unfinished, among others that of Mlle Contat..." -
Letter XI} Louise Françoise Contat. [Description: Bust turned to the
right, hair flowing down onto the shoulders. A red wrap, with a white bonnet.
The head alone is finished, the costume is outlined and the hands hardly
indicated.] Here is a portrait by Greuze (pastel; private collection, Paris).
[Information and Greuze image from Olivier Blanc.]
1789 “A lady,” oil on
canvas, oval. Musée de Quimper, France. [Thanks to Olivier Blanc, who provided
the photograph. Olivier dated the painting, based upon the hair and clothing
style. He suggests that perhaps the sitter is Mme de Savigny or Mme Duvernais.
He is continuing to research the painting.]
1789 "Dauphin Louis
Charles playing with a yo-yo [emigrette]" [attributed], Musée
Leblanc-Duvernoy, Auxerre, France. La Revue du Louvre, 35:2:105, 1985
(b&w); color image provided by Claudia Solacini.
"Dauphin Louis Charles with a Dog,"
referenced by Baillio (1982) as exhibited in 1789 at the Salon de
l’Académie Royale. Baillio suspected that the painting was destroyed during the
French Revolution. Jana Talkenberg states that the painting had been in the
Saint Cloud home, and was destroyed there June 1794. Jana provided this image,
which is believed to be a copy by an unknown artist after VLB's original.
IN PARMA,
BOLOGNA, TURIN AND FLORENCE [1789 & 1792]
1792 "Julie Le Brun,
wearing a wreath of roses," oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale, Parma. Museum
Postcard. {"1 A head in oils for the academy of Parma."}
{"As soon as I had returned to Parma [in 1792], where I had spent so
little time previously en route to Rome, I was welcomed as a member of their
Academy and I donated a small portrait of my daughter which I had just
completed." - Chap. VIII}
1789 "Julie Le Brun,
looking over her shoulder," 17 1/4" x 13 3/4" (43.8 x 34.8
cm), oil on panel, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna. New International
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Art, p. 4756. {"1 Small portrait in oils
for the Institute of Bologna."} {"Three days after my arrival, on the
third of November 1789, I was received as a member of the Academy and the
Institute of Bologna." - Chap. I} [Baillio (1982) (p. 76) dates
this 1792, and (p. 13) writes that VLB was elected to the Academy of Parma
on Nov. 3, 1789. This would seem to be an error on his part, reversing Parma
and Bologna.]
1792 "Mme de
Gourbillon," signed and dated: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun / à Turin /
1792. Sold to M. Arthur Veil Picard in 1904. Published in vicomte Tony
Henri Auguste de Reiset, Joséphine de Savoie, comtesse de Provence,
1753-1810, d’après des documents inédits, Paris, Émile-Paul frères, 1913.
{"1 Mme de Gourbillon, attaché to Madame, wife of Louis XVIII."}
{Turin: "... I went to see Madame, the wife of Louis XVIII...[who]
arranged several excursions … with her lady-in-waiting, Mme du Gourbillon,
and her son as companions." - Chap. X}
1792 {"1 Her son."} {Turin: "... I
went to see Madame, the wife of Louis XVIII...[who] arranged several excursions
… with her lady-in-waiting, Mme du Gourbillon, and her son as
companions." - Chap. X}
1792 "Julie Le Brun
as a Bather," oil on canvas, 28 3/8" x 21 7/8" (73 x 55.5
cm), signed and dated, private collection. Color photo from April 1986
advertisement of Galerie Fischer Luzern; Baillio (2015), p. 199 (color);
Baillio (2016), p. 159 (color). {"1 My daughter as a bather."}
{Turin: "I painted a bather using my daughter as model ..." - Chap.
X} The painting was commissioned by Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, who
acquired paintings from the most important painters of the era.
1792 "Daughter of Engraver
Porporati," Galleria Sabauda, Turin. Color image provided by Lucia
Cardellini. {"1 Mlle Porporati."} {VLB stayed with Porporati &
his daughter in Turin in 1789 (Chap. I), and he lent her a farmhouse on her
return in 1792. "I found myself at a loss as to how I could repay M.
Porporati for the good care he had taken of me; I suggested painting the
portrait of his daughter..." - Chap. X}
1792 "Copy of Raphael's portrait of Bindo
Altoviti," location unknown. {"1 Copy of Raphael’s portrait in
Florence."} {"Needless to say I could not leave Florence without
seeing Palazzo Altoviti and that splendid self portrait by Raphael." -
Chap. I} {Upon returning to Florence in 1792: "I began to copy a portrait
of Raphael..." - Chap. VIII} The famous portrait ca. 1512 by Raffaelo
Sanzio (1483-1520) of Bindo Altoviti, oil on panel, 59.7 x 43.8 cm, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., had at the time been believed to be Raphael's
self-portrait. Bindo Altoviti (1483-1520), was a banker and a patron of the
arts. Raphael's portrait remained with the Altoviti family until 1808. Paul
Lang in Baillio (2016) notes that a contemporary
engraving, 7 1/4" x 5 3/8" (18.5 x 13.7 cm), Institut de France,
Paris produced by Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825) shows VLB's "Self
portrait (painting Marie Antoinette)" that she had prepared for the Uffizi
Gallery (see below), except that Denon replaced the Queen's head with that of a
mirrored version of Raphael's painting of Altoviti. This engraving by Denon,
together with VLB's mention of the painting being located in the Altoviti
palace, makes it clear that she was referring to the painting of Altoviti, as opposed
to an
actual self-portrait by Raphael.
{"Various landscapes from nature."}
PORTRAITS
PAINTED IN ROME [mid-December 1789-April 1790; March
1791-April 14, 1792]
1789-90 "Self Portrait,"
Academy of St. Luke, Rome, Masters in Art, 1905, p. 106 (b&w).
{"1 Self-portrait, bust for the Académie of Saint-Luc."} [Many copies
exist; perhaps some are genuine, and others are not. The Ackland Art Center of
the University of North Carolina has an anonymous copy. Another copy was
sold at Christies. Another copy, is in Verviers, Belgium, where it was photographed by
Lucia Cardellini.]
1790 "Self Portrait
(painting Marie Antoinette)," oil on canvas, 39 3/8" x 31
7/8" (100 x 81 cm), Uffizi, Florence. Paintings in the Uffizi &
Pitti Galleries, p. 619; Baillio (2015), p. 89 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 143 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and
Poles (2016), p. 55 (color). {"1 The same for the gallery in
Florence."} {"One day [in Florence] … I had the honor of being asked
for my own self portrait as a gift to the town of Florence. I promised to
deliver the painting as soon as I reached Rome." - Chap. I} {"Soon
after my arrival in Rome I painted my self portrait for the gallery in
Florence." - Chap. III} Tamás Strakovits notified us that a copy exists in the
Watford Museum (U.K.), oil on canvas 96.5 x 82.2 cm. Another copy is owned by a
private collector in Texas, having been purchased at a Hargesheimer &
Gunther auction, Dusseldorf, Germany, March 2012.
1790 "Self Portrait,"
oil on canvas, 39" x 31-3/4," signed and dated: L. E. Vigée Le
Brun 1790. National Trust, Ickworth, Suffolk. Treasure Houses of Britain,
edited by Gervase Jackson-Stops, p. 569 (color). {"1 Copy of the same for
Lord Bristol."} In place of Marie Antoinette, VLB has substituted a
different head. It appears to be that of VLB’s daughter, Julie.
ca. 1789-90 "Anne Pitt, as Hebe,"
oil on canvas, 55 1/8" x 39 1/8" (140 x 99.5 cm), Hermitage. (This
painting illustrated, from the Hermitage, may be an anonymous copy. The
original portrait was inherited by her husband’s nephew, George Matthew
Fortescue, and was at the Fortescue estate at Boconnoc, Cornwall.) An image of
the original may appear in Archaeological Journal, xxxi, 26. {"1
Miss Pitt, daughter of Lord Camelfort."} {"She was sixteen years old
and very pretty; I transformed her into the figure of Hebe seated upon some
clouds with an eagle drinking from a goblet in her hand. I used a real eagle as
my model and I thought he was going to make a meal of me." - Chap. III} Lived
1772-1864, the daughter of Thomas Pitt, first Baron Camelford (1737-93), a
politician and art connoisseur. In 1792, she married William Wyndham Grenville,
baron Grenville (1759-1834).
1791 "Hyacinthe
Gabrielle Rolande, Countess of Mornington, afterwards Marchioness of Wellesley,"
oil on canvas, 39" x 29 1/2" (99.1 x 74.9 cm), signed and dated at
left: L. Vigée Le Brun / Roma 1791. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Art
News, 63:3, summer 1964 (b&w); Connoisseur, 157:116, Oct 1964; Antiques,
Mar 1991, p. 497; Apollo, Mar 1991; The Sweetness of Life
(color); Baillio (2015), p. 245 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 153
(color). {"1 Mlle Roland, later Lady Welesly."} Hyacinthe
Gabrielle Roland, born ca. 1760, considered to be the daughter of Pierre Roland
and Hyacinthe Gabrielle Daris of Paris. In 1785 she became the mistress of
Richard Colley Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington (from 1799 1st Marquess
Wellesley). She bore him five children before they were married, in 1794. She
died in 1816. Baillio felt that VLB was influenced by a copy or print of
Rubens’s portrait (ca. 1638) of "Het Pelsken: Helene Fourment in a
Fur" (detail).
{"1 Mme Silva, a Portuguese woman."} Dona
Anna Felicia Coutinho Pereira De Souza Freire, born ca. 1765. She married an
older widower, minister de Seabra e Silva (1732-1813), a secretary of d’Etat du
marquis de Pombal then queen Marie de Portugal. Their first son, Manuel Maria
Pereira Coutinho de Seabra e Sousa, born in 1787, became vicomte de Bahia in
1797. In 1803 he married Mlle Da Mota. Mme Seabra e Silva, known as Mme Silva,
had at least two other sons, Manuel Ferreira de Seabra da Mota e Silva, baron de
Mogofores, born 1798, and Antonio Luis, born 1799, who carried the title of
vicomte de Seabra. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
1791 "Comtesse Anna
Potocka," oil on canvas, 55 7/8" x 49 5/8" (142 x 126 cm),
signed and dated lower right: L. E. Vigée Le Brun / a Rome / 1791.
Private collection. Art in America, 70:74-81, Nov 1982; Burlington,
May 1989, iii; Baillio (2015), p. 238 (color); Baillio (2016), p.
151 (color). {"1 Countess Potocka."} {"I painted her in a very
picturesque style, leaning against a moss covered rock with mountain streams
cascading down on the other side." - Chap. III} Anna Cetner (14
February 1764, Belz - 6 January 1814, Vienna) was a daughter of Ignacy
Aleksander Cetner (1728, Brody, Ukraine - ca. 1800), provincial governor and
marshal of Galicia, and his wife, Ludwika née Potocka (ca. 1744 - ?). The
sitter's first husband was Prince Joseph Sanguszko, from whom she was widowed.
In 1781 she married Prince Casimir Nestor Sapieha, divorcing him three years
later. In 1790 she married Count Kajetan Potocki, divorcing him six years
later. In 1803 she married her fourth husband, Vienna Charles Eugene, Prince de
Lorraine (1751-1825). See the Baillio (1982) description.
1791 "Madame
Adélaïde de France," oil on canvas, oval, 31 1/8" x 26 3/4"
(79 x 68 cm), signed and dated lower right: L. E. Vigée Le Brun / A Rome.
Musée Jeanne d’Aboville, La Fére. (A copy may be at Versailles.) Baillio
(1982), p. 99 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 228 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 148 (color). {"2 Mesdames de France, Adélaïde and
Victorie."} {"As soon as [the aunts to Louis XVI] arrived, they came
to see me and asked me to paint them." - Chap. VII} Louise Marie
Adélaïde de France, 23 March 1732-20 February 1800.
1791 "Madame Victoire de
France," oil on canvas, oval, 30 3/4" x 26 3/8" (78.1 x 67
cm), signed and dated lower right: E. Vigée Le Brun/ à Rome 1791.
Phoenix Art Museum. Baillio (1982), p. 98 (b&w); color photo
provided by museum to Kevin Kelly; Baillio (2015), p. 229 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 149 (color). {"2 Mesdames de France, Adélaïde and Victorie."}
{"As soon as [the aunts to Louis XVI] arrived, they came to see me
and asked me to paint them." - Chap. VII} Louise Marie Thérèse Victoire
de France, 11 May 1733-7 June 1799. See the Baillio (1982) description. Another version
is located in Ingestre Hall Residential Arts Centre, Loire Valley, France.
{"As well as the above there are several
landscape studies of the Roman countryside, both in oil and pastel."}
{"[In Tivoli] we went to see the fountains...I drew them in pastels,
wishing to catch the rainbow colours of these magnificent spouting waters. The
olive clad mountain rising up on our left completed the delightful view."
- Chap. IV} {"Near [Neptune’s Cave, in Tivoli], we found another waterfall
which appears from under the arch of a bridge; I drew this scene too." -
Chap. IV} {"...finding myself on the terrace of S. Trinità dei Monti one
evening, I was struck by the beauty of the sunset; as I had no other paper on
my person except the note from M. Laborde … I took the bill of payment … and
drew the sunset upon it." - Chap. IV}
1789 "Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of
Bristol," oil on canvas. Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol
(1 August 1730, Suffolk – 8 July 1803, Lazio). In 1752, he married Elizabeth
Davers (1 February 1733 - 19 December 1800). The couple had four sons and three
daughters. Philanthropist and art collector, he was ordained and had a career
in the Anglican church, though he was considered licentious and once referred
to himself as agnostic.
IN NAPLES [April
1790-March 1791]
1790 "Countess Ecaterina
Vassilievna Skavronskaya, née Engelhardt," oil on canvas, 53 1/8"
x 37 3/8" (135 x 95 cm), signed and dated at left, above the sofa: L.
E. Vigée Le Brun / a Naple en 1790. Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 101 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p.
86 (b&w); museum postcard; Baillio (2015), p. 237 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 144 (color). {"1 Countess Scavronska, three-quarter
length."} {"...only two days after my arrival [in Naples] I began a
full length painting. The ambassadress posed holding a medallion in one hand
bearing the portrait of her husband." - Chap. V} {"I am painting Mme
de Scavronski, the Ambassadress of Russia, who is a fresh, pretty and most
excellent person." - letter to Comtesse du Barry, dated July 2, 1790,
cited by Baillio (1982), p. 85.} A sketch,
in graphite with notations of colors and textures, was illustrated in The
Sweetness of Life and is now in Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris. Ecaterina
Vassilievna Skavronskaya (1761-1829) was a daughter of Basil Andreivitch
Engelhardt of Smolensk and his wife, Helena Alexandrovna Potemkin. The sitter
was a niece of Catherine II’s favorite, Prince Grigori Alexandrovitch Potemkin.
She was married to Count Pavel Martynovich Skavronsky (born 1757), and was
widowed in 1793. In 1798 she married Count Giulio Litta, whom VLB also painted.
See the Baillio (1982) description.
1790 "Countess Ecaterina Vassilievna
Skavronskaya," drawing in graphite. Bulletin des Musées de France,
10:Dec 1935, p. 161. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB}
1790 "Countess
Ecaterina Vassilievna Skavronskaya, née Engelhardt," (bust length,
looking up with antique drapery over her hair), oil on canvas, unlocated. A.M.
Lusheff, Album of Portraits of Famous Russians, Saint Petersburg, 1870,
no. 383; color photo from Witt Library. {"2 Two busts of the
same."} [Helm, p. 208 cites as attributed to VLB a knee-length portrait in
the Youssoupoff collection, showing the sitter holding a book on her knees,
wearing a white dress, and a beige shawl edged with black. Baillio (1982),
p. 87, also mentions a supposed portrait of this sitter, located in The
Metropolitan Museum of Art and inscribed with VLB’s name, though he obviously
doesn’t agree with this attribution. Also see portrait of 1796.]
1790 "Countess
Ecaterina Vassilievna Skavronskaya, née Engelhardt," oil on canvas, 21
1/2" x 17 3/4" (54.8 x 45.2 cm), signed and dated lower left: Le
Brun / 1790. Helm, 1915, facing p. 126; Connaissance des Arts,
260:33, Oct 1973. {"2 Two busts of the same."}
1790 "Emma Hart, the
Future Lady Hamilton, as Ariadne," oil on canvas, 53 1/8" x 62
1/4" (135 x 158 cm), signed and dated lower left, on tambourine: L. E.
Vigée Le Brun naples / 1790. Private Collection. Art in America, Nov
1982, p. 77 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 88 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 23 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 15 (color). {"1 Lady
Hamilton, as a reclining Bacchante."} {"I painted Mme Hart as a
bacchante, reposing by the side of the sea holding a cup in her hand." -
Chap. V} {"I am also painting a very beautiful woman, Mrs. Hart, who is a
friend of the English ambassador. In a large painting I have made her into a
cheerful Ariadne, her face lending itself to this choice." - letter to Mme
du Barry, 2 July 1790, cited by Baillio (1982), p.89. [Baillio points
out that the portrait has elements of both Bacchante and Ariadne.]} Amy Lyon
(26 April 1765, Ness, Cheshire, England – 15 January 1815, Calais, France). In
1782, she gave birth to a daughter (Emma Carew) by Charles Francis Greville (12
May 1749 – 23 April 1809), who had Amy change her name to Emma Hart. He
arranged for her to pose for George Romney and other artists, and she became
famous for her beauty. Rather than marry her, Greville set her up with his
widowed uncle, Sir William Hamilton (13 December 1730 – 6 April 1803), who
married Emma on 6 September 1791. She later became the lover of Admiral
Viscount Horatio Nelson (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805), and gave birth
to the latter’s daughter, Horatia Nelson (January 29, 1801 – March 6, 1881).
See the Baillio (1982) description.
1792 "Lady Hamilton as
a Sibyl," oil on canvas, 54 5/8" x 39 3/4" (73 x 57.2 cm), Connoisseur,
May 1965, p. xxvi (color); Baillio (1982), p. 101 (b&w); The
Sweetness of Life (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 247 (color).
Bust-length copy by VLB exists. Other copies by her may exist. {"1 The
same as a sibyl, full-length."} {"...I painted Lady Hamilton again as
a sibyl..." - Chap. V} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited
at the Salon of 1798.] This 3/4 length portrait was prepared for the duc de
Brissac, but remained with VLB owing to Brissac's murder in September 1792. It
was VLB’s favorite painting. [The Kimbell exhibit and catalogue (Baillio
(1982), p. 100) displayed a copy in black chalk
and brown wash, 12 3/4" x 9 3/8," Private collection. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
However, as of 4 July 1985, Baillio decided that the drawing was not by VLB,
per a note that he recorded at the Witt Library.]
1790-91 "Emma Hamilton
as Bacchante," oil on canvas, 52 1/8" x 41 1/2" (132.5 x
105.5 cm), Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, England. Cited in Baillio
(1982); Art and Antiques, Dec 1987, p. 76; Baillio (2015), p.
246 (color). {"1 The same as a bacchante dancing with a tambourine."}
1792 "Lady Hamilton
as the Cumaean Sibyl," oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 22 1/2" (73
x 57.2 cm), signed and dated lower left: L.E. Vigee Le Brun / a Rome 1792,
private collection. Baillio (2016), p. 157 (color). {"1 Head of the
same as a sibyl."}{"Later when I painted Lady Hamilton again as a
sibyl for the Duc de Brissac, I decided to make a quick copy of the head and
send it as a present to Sir William, who without hesitating sold it." -
Chap. V} In Baillio (2016), Stéphane Guégan writes that the pentimenti
shows that this painting was preliminary to the 3/4 length version prepared for
the duc de Brissac, so perhaps this was not the copy VLB made for Sir William
Hamilton.
1790 "Maria Theresa,
later Empress of Austria," oil on canvas, 47 5/8" x 33" (121
x 84 cm). Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples. Baillio (2015),
p. 225 (color). A copy, oil (on canvas or panel?), 13 3/4" x 11" (35
x 28 cm), is at Condé Chantilly, France; color photo by Francis Kelly.
A bust (or
a detail) is supposedly at Versailles. Another copy
is at the castle at Namest nad Oslavou, Czech Republic. {"1 Princess Maria
Theresa who married the Emperor Francis II."} {"...the Queen of
Naples wished to commission a portrait of her two eldest daughters, so I began
immediately...the eldest married the Emperor of Austria, Francis II..." -
Chap. VI} Maria Theresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (6 June 1772 - 13 April
1807) was the eldest child of Ferdinand III of Sicily (also known as Ferdinand
IV of Naples) and his wife Maria Carolina of Austria (a sister of Marie
Antoinette). On 15 September 1790, the sitter married her first cousin,
Archduke Francis of Austria (1768-1835), whom in 1792 would become the last
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1804, the founder and first emperor of
Austria.
1790 "Maria Luisa
Amelia, later Grand Duchesse of Tuscany," oil on canvas, 46 7/8"
x 32 1/4" (119 x 82 cm), signed and dated lower left: L.E. Vigée Le
Brun a Naples 1790. Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples. Baillio
(2015), p. 226 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 147 (color). A copy is at
Condé
Chantilly, France. {"1 Princess Maria Louisa, who married the Grand
Duke of Tuscany."} {"...the Queen of Naples wished to commission a
portrait of her two eldest daughters, so I began immediately...the second,
Louise, married the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Louise was extremely ugly, and
pulled such faces that I was reluctant to finish her portrait." - Chap.
VI} Maria Luisa Amelia Teresa (27 July 1773 - 19 September 1802), was the
second child of Ferdinand III of Sicily (also known as Ferdinand IV of Naples)
and his wife Maria Carolina of Austria (a sister of Marie Antoinette). On 15
August 1790, the sitter married her cousin, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
(1769-1824). She died in childbirth.
1790 "Francesco di
Borbone, later King of the Two Sicilies," oil on canvas, 48 3/8"
x 35 3/4" (123 x 91 cm). Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte,
Naples. Baillio (1982), p. 91 (b&w); Art Journal, 42:4:335-8,
Winter 1982; Baillio (2015), p. 227 (color). {"1 Le Prince
héréditaire, father of the Duchesse de Berry."} {"When the Queen left
[for Vienna to arrange her daughters’ marriages], I painted the Prince
Royal." - Chap. VI} Lived 19 August 1777-8 November 1830, a son of
Ferdinand III of Sicily (also known as Ferdinand IV of Naples) and his wife
Maria Carolina of Austria (a sister of Marie Antoinette). The sitter ruled
1825-30. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1790 "Maria Cristina,
future Queen of Sardinia," oil on canvas, 48 3/8" x 35 3/4"
(123 x 91 cm). Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples. Vigée
LeBrun, p. 70 (Doubleday, 1903); Baillio (2015), p. 227 (color). A
small copy by VLB, oil on panel, 14 1/2" x 10 1/2," is at Museo del
Prado, Madrid. {"1 Princess Marie Christine."} Lived 17 January
1779-11 March 1849, another child of Ferdinand III of Sicily (also known as
Ferdinand IV of Naples) and his wife Maria Carolina of Austria (a sister of
Marie Antoinette). Married in 6 April 1807 to Prince Charles Felix of Savoy (6
April 1765-27 April 1831), who became king of Sardinia (1821-1831).
1791 "Giovanni Paisiello,"
oil on canvas, 51 1/2" x 38 3/4" (131 x 98.5 cm), inscribed lower
left, on cover of musical score: Rondo de Nina / A mei ben quando verrai /
musica / Del Sigr Giovanni Paisiello. Inscribed lower left, on
scroll: Te deum / Messa in musica / in occasione del felice viaggio / delle
Loro Maest àdelle Sicile / 1791. Musée National du Château de Versailles, Antiques,
Jan 1968, p. 113 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 93 (b&w); Art in
America, 70:74-81, Nov 1982 (b&w); J.F. Heim, C. Beraud, P. Heim, Les
Salons de peinture de la Revolution francaise 1789-1799 (Paris, 1989)
(b&w); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); Baillio (2015), p.
232 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 154 (color). {"1 Paesïello,
composer."} {"...Paësiello ... continued composing while he sat for
me... I froze in these apartments; I was painting Paësiello at the time and
both of us sat there blowing on our fingers to warm them. I had a fire lit ...
but ... the smoke suffocated us... I cannot imagine how I came to finish his
portrait." - Chap. VI} Giovanni Paisiello (9 May 1740, Taranto – 5 June
1816, Naples), Italian composer. In 1772, he married Cecilia Pallini (d.1815).
See the Baillio (1982) description.
1791 "Prince Carlo
Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico," oil on canvas, 34 1/2" x 29
1/2", private collection, Switzerland; image from Robilant & Voena
gallery.{"1 Prince Resoniko."} [Image spotted by Angela Demutskiy.]
1791 "Frederick Augustus
Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry," oil on canvas, 39
3/8" x 29 1/2" (100 x 74.9 cm), signed and dated: L. E. Vigée Le
Brun Naples 1791. National Trust, Ickworth, Suffolk. Apollo,
116:410, Dec 1982 (b&w); Apollo 99:431, Jun 1994 (b&w); Apollo,
May 1995, p. 36; Treasure Houses of Britain, edited by Gervase
Jackson-Stops, p. 276 (color); The Sweetness of Life (b&w). {"1
Lord Bristol, a three-quarter length."} {"... I painted another
portrait of Lord Bristol, whom I encountered once again in Naples. It could be
said that this man spent his entire life on Vesuvius for he climbed up the
volcano every day." - Chap. V}
{"1 The Balli de Litta."} Lived
1763-1839. Born in Italy, his father was a general in the Austrian Army and his
mother came from an old Italian noble family called Visconti. He became a
knight of the Maltese Order at the age of 17, and was sent to Russia in 1789.
For his service in the war against Sweden he was awarded the rank of a
counter-admiral and appointed to the order of St. George. He became a Russian
citizen in 1798 and served in the government. He was the second husband of
another VLB sitter, Ekaterina Skavronskaia née Engelhardt. [Information
from Jana Talkenberg.]
1791 "Maria Carolina,
Queen of Naples," oil on canvas, 21" x 15 1/8," was
destroyed by fire July 1940 in Providence, Rhode Island. Baillio (1982),
p. 92 (b&w). A copy, oil (on canvas or wood?), 13 3/4" x 11" (35
x 28 cm), exists at Condé Chantilly. [*] Another copy, oil on panel, 14" x
10 1/2", was reported at Museo del Prado, Madrid. {"1 The Queen of
Naples."} {The Queen of Naples, without being as pretty as her younger
sister, the Queen of France, resembled her greatly..." - Chap. VII} Lived
1752-1814, married in 1768 to Ferdinand (1751-1825). He was King of Naples (as
Ferdinand IV, from 1759, driven out by French in 1799 and 1806, restored 1815,
united Naples into Two Sicilies in 1816), King of Sicily (as Ferdinand III,
from 1759, united Sicily into Two Sicilies in 1816), and King of Two Sicilies
(as Ferdinand I, 1816-25).
{"This does not include several studies of
Vesuvius and the area around Naples."} {"...we saw an enormous column
of white smoke rise from the crater, together with clouds of ash and lava,
which turned silver when lit by the sun. I painted this effect for I thought it
divine." - Chap. VI}
1790-91 "Head of a Girl,
Turned to the Left," black chalk on wood, 10 1/2" x 14." A
note in French on the reverse states that Mme. Le Brun made this drawing on a
door in the Casino [summer house] of Sir William Hamilton, British Minister to
Naples, by whose order it was preserved. Apollo, Jun 1936, p. 354; The
Sweetness of Life (b&w). {"...I sketched two small heads in
charcoal upon one of the doors..." - Chap. V, Note 7} Neither VLB nor
Hamilton identified the subject, but she resembles Emma Hart, the future Emma
Hamilton.
1792 {At the famous waterfall of Terni: "I
drew the picturesque entrance to this cave..." - Chap. VIII}
1792? "Isabella Marini,"
oil on paper, mounted on canvas, 19" x 13 7/8" (48.3 x 35.2 cm),
signed and dated lower left: L. E. Vigée Le Brun / pour son ami De Non /a
Venise 1792. Toledo Museum of Art. Baillio (1982), p. 102 (b&w);
Art International, Jul/Aug 1983, p. 27; Baillio (2015), p. 235
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 160 (color). Anonymous copy exists. {"1
Mme Marini."} {"M. Denon also asked me to paint the portrait of his
friend Mme Marini [later wife of Count Albridgi] ..." - Chap. IX} A crude
and tiny sketch,
5" x 3 5/8", red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash heightened with
white, on light blue paper, discovered at the Witt Library, was alleged to be
by VLB. Isabella Marini, née Teotochi (1760-1837), was married to Carlo
Antonio Marin, but engaged in an affair with the engraver Dominique Vivant
Denon, who asked his friend VLB to prepare this portrait. The sitter would
divorce Marin in 1795 and marry Giuseppe Albrizzi, but Denon treasured the
painting until his death. See the Baillio (1982) description.
{Milan, 1792: "The countryside around Milan
is so ravishing that I could not stop sketching it." - Chap. X}
1789-1792 Sketchbook of drawings. Private
collection. This sketchbook had been lot 380 of the November 4-5, 1937 Paris
estate sale of Louis Deglatigny, Rouen. Baillio (1982) expressed the
belief that this one had been completed in Italy. Two other sketchbooks from
the Deglatigny sale were believed to have been filled during social gatherings
in St. Petersburg, and are listed in that section, below. Baillio (1982)
did not question the authorship of the sketchbooks, but more recently has
suggested that at least the St. Petersburg sketches were not done by VLB, but
by her sister-in-law's eldest brother, Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Rivière, who
accompanied VLB from 1792-1801. It is unknown whether that doubt only pertains
to the two sketchbooks from St. Petersburg, or also these two.
1789-1792 Sketchbook of drawings. Private collection. This
sketchbook had been lot 381 of the November 4-5, 1937 Paris estate sale of
Louis Deglatigny, Rouen. Baillio (1982) expressed the belief that this
one had been completed in Italy. Two other sketchbooks from the Deglatigny sale
were believed to have been filled during social gatherings in St. Petersburg,
and are listed in that section, below. Baillio (1982) did not question
the authorship of the sketchbooks, but more recently has suggested that at least
the St. Petersburg sketches were not done by VLB, but by her sister-in-law's
eldest brother, Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Rivière, who accompanied VLB from
1792-1801. It is unknown whether that doubt only pertains to the two
sketchbooks from St. Petersburg, or also these two.
1793 "Countess
Siemontkowsky Bystry," oil on canvas, 32" x 24 3/8" (81 x 62
cm), signed and dated at lower left: L E. Vigee LeBrun / a Vienne 1793. Christie's
Sale 11932- Revolution (13 April 2016). {"1 Mme Bistri, a Polish
woman."} {In Milan: "During the last concert I attended I found
myself sitting next to a very beautiful and charming Polish woman, known as
Countess Bistri." - Chap. X; VLB accompanied M and Mme Bistri to Vienna,
where "I completed the portrait of the charming Mme Bistri..." -
Chap. XI}A related
portrait (probably after VLB), 31" x 25," was located in
the Witt Library. A profile, attributed to VLB, is also said to represent this
sitter (though Olivier Blanc has noted that the profile looks almost exactly
like the profile of Marie Caroline von Thun, Lady Guisford, listed in the next
section). Anna Bystra, née Rakowska (1770-1828), had been widowed from her
first husband, Ignacy Kordysz, in 1788.
1793 "Count Siemontkowsky Bystry," oil on canvas, 32" x
24 3/8" (81 x 62 cm), signed and dated at lower left: L E. Vigee LeBrun
/ a Vienne 1793. Christie's Sale 11932- Revolution (13 April 2016). [VLB
only mentioned Mdm. Bistra’s portrait, previous listing.] Gerrit
Walczak identified the sitter as Romuald Joachim Bystry (ca. 1756-ca. 1824).
Timothy F. Boettger indicated that he did not properly hold the title of
Count. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn
Press 2006), lists a pastel of Count Bystry by VLB.
{"1 Mlle de Kaquenet."}
1793 "Theresa, Countess
Kinsky," oil on canvas, 53" x 39" (137.5 x 100 cm), Norton
Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California. Art Journal, Fall 1972, p.
36; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 165 (b&w); The Norton
Simon Museum by Frank Herrmann, p. 77 (color). {"1 Countess Kinska,
three-quarter length."} {"...three in particular were noted for their
beauty: … the charming Countess Kinska, née Countess Diedrochsten." -
Chap. XI} Countess Therese Kinsky née Dietrichstein (11 August 1768 - 16
September 1822), the daughter of Prince Johann Baptist Karl Dietrichstein
(1728-1808) and Countess Marie Christine Thun (1738-1788). She was married 10
November 1787 to Count Philipp Josef Kinsky v.Wchinitz u.Tettau (1770-1827).
They were divorced, and she remarried to Count Maximilian von Merveldt (d.
1815). [Identified by Angela Demutskiy.] VLB also painted her brother, in
St. Petersburg.
"Countess Kinsky,"
Angelica Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p. 310, reports that VLB
bequeathed a portrait of this sitter, wearing a red shawl and a turban, to the
Berlin Academy. Perhaps this is that portrait. {"1 The same,
half-length."}
1793 "Countess Maria
Theresia Bucquoi, née Paar," oil on canvas, 53 1/2" x 39"
(135.9 x 99.1 cm), signed and dated lower right: L. E. Vigée Le Brun / à
Vienne 1793. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Minneapolis Institute of
Arts Bulletin, 64:115, 1979-80; Gazette des Beaux Arts, ser 6:93,
Supp. 43, Apr 1979 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 26 (color); museum
slide; Baillio (2015), p. 253 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 163
(color). {"1 Countess Buquoi, sister of the Prince de Paar."}
{"... Prince Parr invited me to his home to see the large portrait of his
sister, the kind and warm Countess Bucquoi, which I had recently finished and
he had only just received." - Chap. XII} Maria Theresia Paar
(1746-1818) was the daughter of Prince Johann Joseph Paar (1719-1792) and
Countess Antonia Esterhazy (1719-1771). She married Count Johann Josef Bucquoi
(died 1803). See the Baillio (1982) description.
"Countess Maria Elisabeth Razumovskaya,"
the painting is unlocated, but an engraving
of VLB’s painting by Franz-Valentine Durmer was published in Gazette des
Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 164 (b&w). {"1 Countess
Rasowmoffska."} {"Three in particular were noted for their beauty: …
the wife of the Russian ambassador, Count Rasowmoffski ..." - Chap. XI} Countess
Maria Elisabeth Razumovskaya, née Countess von Thun und Hohenstein (25 April
1764-1806). She was a daughter of Imperial Chamberlain Count Franz Joseph Anton
von Thun und Hohenstein (1734-1801) and Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und
Hohenstein, née Countess Uhlfeldt (13 June 1744, Vienna - 18 May 1800, Vienna).
On 4 November 1788, she married count André Kirillovich Razumovsky
(Андре́й
Кири́ллович
Разумо́вский),
later Prince (2 November 1752 - 23 September 1836), the Russian ambassador at
the court of Habsburgs and celebrated patron of Beethoven. Also available
is a miniature
of the sitter (left) and her two sisters, by Heinrich Friedrich Füger. VLB
painted a number of the sitter's relatives: (1) her mother, Countess Maria
Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein; (2) her sister, Princess Maria Christiane
Josepha Lichnowskaya (25 July 1765-1841); (3) her sister, Lady Marie Caroline
Anna Gillford (1769-1800); (4) her sister-in-law, Princess Maria Grigorievna
Golitzyna (1772-1865); (5) her niece, Countess Maria Vassilievna Kotchoubey
(1779-1844); (6) her cousin, Lev Aleksandrovitch Narishkin (1785-1846); and (7)
her cousin by marriage, Aleksandr Lvovich Narishkin (1760-1826). [Biographical
information from Joseph Baillio, Angela Demutskiy, and Jana Talkenberg. Jana
supplied the photo of the miniature.]
1793 "Maria Countess
Franzisca Palffy," oil on canvas, 37" x 29" (96 x 74 cm).
{"1 Countess Palfi."}. Daughter of Count Janos VIII Palffy ab Erdodi
(1728-91) and Maria Gabriela Coloredo-Mannfeld (1741-1801). In 1795, the sitter
would marry Count Janos Nepomuk Hunyandy von Kethely (1773-1821). The painting
had remained with the family until auctioned in 2018. The painting depicts the
sitter as a wood nymph, holding a composition by Mozart. [Thanks to Angela
Demutskiy and Tamas Strakovits for the information.]
1793 "Furstin Charlotte Liechtenstein as
Aurora," Possession of Fursten Liechtenstein. {"1 Princess
Liechtenstein, full-length."}
1793 "Countess Kagenek
as Flora," oil on canvas (within a painted oval), 29 5/8" x 24
5/8" (75.3 x 62.6 cm), signed and dated lower left L.E. Vigée LeBrun/ a
Vienne 1792 and inscribed on the reverse of the canvas Flore. Comtesse
de Kagenek/ age de 13 ans/ née le 23 septembre 1779. Fondation Bemberg,
Toulouse. Apollo, Jun 1985, p. 378; Sotheby, Jan 2003; Baillio
(2015), p. 241 (color). As of May 2010, the painting was on exhibit at
l'hôtel d'Assézat. {"... I found lodgings within the city of Vienna … and
immediately set about painting the portrait of the Ambassador of Spain’s
daughter, Mlle Kaguenek, a very pretty sixteen year old..." - Chap. XII} Flora
Kageneck (1779-1857), the daughter of Count Frederich Kagenek and Countess
Maria Theresa Salm Reiffersheidt. More importantly she was a cousin of Prince
Clemens von Metternich (1773-1859). Even though she married Count Eugene Wrbna
in 1798 the couple lived in the Metternich residence where the Countess assumed
the role of hostess to foreign dignitaries during the Congress of Vienna
(September 1814- June 1815).
1793 "Baron and later Count Grigory
Alexandrovich Stroganov," unlocated. {"1 Baron Stroganoff,
half-length."}{"A few days after my arrival in Vienna, I made the
acquaintance of the Baron and Baroness Stroganoff, who both begged me to paint
their portraits." - Chap. XI} Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov (ca.
1769-1857), a son of Alexander Nikolayevich Stroganov and Elizaveta
Alexandrovna Zagryazhskaya. He was granted the title of count in 1826. VLB
painted this unlocated bust of the sitter, as well as the 3/4 length portrait
below, and a portrait of his wife.
1793 "Baron and later
Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov," oil on canvas, oval, 36
1/4" x 26" (92 x 66 cm), signed and dated at left: L. E. Vigée Le
Brun / a Vienne, 1793. Hermitage. Stroganoff: The Palace and Collections
of a Russian Noble Family, p. 147 (color); Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p.117 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 265 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 168 (color). {"1 Baron Stroganoff, hands showing."}
{"A few days after my arrival in Vienna, I made the acquaintance of the
Baron and Baroness Stroganoff, who both begged me to paint their
portraits." - Chap. XI} Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov (ca.
1769-1857), a son of Alexander Nikolayevich Stroganov and Elizaveta
Alexandrovna Zagryazhskaya. He was granted the title of count in 1826.
1793 "Baroness Anna
Sergeevna Stroganov, née Princess Troubetzkoy," 37 1/2" x 29
3/4," signed and dated. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p.
103 (b&w); color photo provided by Mark Caywood of the Kimbell, who located
it in a sale catalogue. {"A few days after my arrival in Vienna, I made
the acquaintance of the Baron and Baroness Stroganoff, who both begged me to
paint their portraits." - Chap. XI} Born Princess Troubetzkoy, lived
1765-1824; the sister of Countess Ecaterina Sergeevna Somoilov, another of
VLB’s sitters.
1793 "Count Grigory
Ivanovich Chernyshev Holding a Mask," oil on canvas, 22" x 17
3/8" (56 x 44 cm), Hermitage. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967,
p. 115 (b&w); Paintings in the Hermitage by Colin Eisler (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 166 (color). A smaller version (by VLB?) existed. {"1 Count
Czernicheff, with black domino and mask."} Grigory Ivanovich Chernyshev
(Григорий
Иванович
Чернышев) (1762-1838), a son of
Count Ivan Grigorievich Chernyshev (d. 1797) and Anna Alexandrovna Islenieva
(1740-1794). In 1796, the sitter married Countess Elizabeth Chernysheva, née
Kvashnin-Samarin (1773-1828).
1793-94 "Princess Pélagie
Roza Potocka Sapieha," oil on canvas, 54 3/4" x 39 3/8" (139
x 100 cm), Royal Castle, Warsaw. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
and Poles (2016), p. 117 (color). {"1 Countess Zamoiska [sic], dancing
with shawl." } Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav Wasylewski, Portrety
Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun (1927) recognized that VLB had erred and that
the model for this painting was actually Princess Pélagie Roza Potocka. Some
believe that the Russian listing "1 Princess Sapieha just past the knee,
dancing with a tambourine." was instead Countess Zamoiska (i.e., that VLB
reversed the two sitters), while others think the Russian listing is indeed
another portrait of Princess Sapieha. Pélagie Roza Potocka (1775-1846), the
daughter of Count Stanislaw Feliks Potocki and Józefina Amalia Mniszech. She
married around 1793 to Prince Franciszek Sapieha-Rozanski (1772-1829), and
divorced him in 1806. She remarried the same year, to Prince Pawel
Sapieha-Suffczynski (1781-1846). VLB painted the sitter again, see below in
this section.
1794 "Countess
Sophia von Fries as Sappho playing a lyre," oil on canvas, National
Castle Museum of Jaromerice, Czech Republic. Photo from 1995 catalogue,
"Napoleon and His Time," from an exhibition at Slavkov (Austerlitz).
{"1 Mlle la Comtesse de Fries as Sappho, holding a lyre and singing,
three-quarter length."} {"Mlle de Fries was an excellent musician,
and when I painted her portrait, I wanted to depict her as Sappho, singing and
accompanying herself upon the lyre." - Chap. XI} Countess Anna
Philippina Johanna Sophia von Fries (1769-before 1842), daughter of Count
Johann von Fries (1719-1785) and Anne d’Echerny. On 7 Aug 1794, she married
Count Heinrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz (1770-1842). [Communication of Timothy
F. Boettger -- Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GEN-ROYAL/2004-12/1101908159
(Accessed 14 Feb 2007).] [Photo forwarded by Jana Talkenberg.] VLB also painted
the sitter’s siblings, Countess von Schönfeld and Count Moritz von Fries.
1794 "La duchesse de Guiche,"
oil on canvas, 22 1/2" x 18 1/8" (57 x 46 cm), signed and dated: Vigée
/ Lebrun à / Vienne 1794. Private collection. Les Gramont Portraits de
famille (color); L’Oeil, Jun 1993, p. 27 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 259 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 170 (color). {"1
Duchess de Guiche wearing a blue turban, half-length."} {"I met the
Duchesse de Guiche, whose delightful face had not changed." - Chap. XII} The
daughter of the Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, Louise Françoise Gabrielle Aglaé
was born May 7, 1768. She had married on July 4, 1780 (at age 12!), to Antoine
Louis Marie de Gramont (17 August 1755 – 28 August 1836). He was known by the
courtesy title comte de Louvigny before his marriage; upon his marriage he was
accorded the style duc de Guiche, and then in 1801 he succeeded a cousin as duc
de Gramont and Prince of Bidache. VLB also painted the two daughters of the
couple, Aglaé Davidoff and Countess Tankerville. The duchesse de Guiche died in
1803 in a fire at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland. She was interned there,
though in 1825 her body was returned to France.
1793 "Prince Adam
Kazimierz Czartoryski in a red cloak," oil on canvas, 39 3/8" x
30 1/2" (102. x 77.2 cm), signed and dated lower right: E. Vigée Le
Brun à Vienne 1793. Collections of the Ciechanowiecki Foundation, Royal
Castle, Warsaw. Burlington, 111:461, Jul 1969; Baillio (1982), p.
105 (b&w); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles
(2016), p. 103 (color). {"2 Portraits of Prince Schotorinski, one with
cloak."} {"There were large gatherings of Polish society at the home
of Princess Czartoryski, another wonderful hostess. Her husband was a
charming man..." - Chap. XII} Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski (1 December
1734, Gdańsk (Danzig) – 19 March 1823, Sieniawa), a son of August
Aleksander Czartoryski (9 November 1697, Warsaw – 4 April 1782, Warsaw) and
Maria Zofia Sieniawska (1698 – 21 May 1771, Warsaw). On 18 November 1761, in
Wołczyn, Poland, he married Izabela Fleming (3 March 1746, Warsaw – 15
July 1835, Wysocko). The sitter was a famous statesman, candidate to the Polish
throne in 1764, and later field marshal of Austria. VLB also painted his
sister, Isabella, in 1782 and below, and his daughter, Princess Maria von
Würtemberg, listed later this year. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1793 "Prince Adam Kazimierz
Cyartoryski in a blue cloak," oil on canvas, 39 1/2" x 30
3/8" (100.2 x 77.2 cm), signed and dated at right: Lu.E. Vigée Le Brun
à Vienne / 1793. Private collection. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée
Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 109 (color). {"2 Portraits of Prince
Schotorinski, one with cloak."} {"There were large gatherings of
Polish society at the home of Princess Czartoryski, another wonderful hostess.
Her husband was a charming man..." - Chap. XII}
1793 "Princess Isabella
Lubomirska, née Czartoryska," oil on canvas, 41 1/8" x 31
7/8" (104.5 x 81 cm). Inscribed "I.LUB" on the letter. Lvovskaya
Galeria, Lvov, Ukraine. Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie," XX, No.
1, 1979, p. 24, fig. 6. Izabele Elzbiete Anne Teofile Czartoryska (21 May
1736 - 11 November 1816, Vienna), a daughter of August Aleksander Czartoryski
(9 November 1697, Warsaw – 4 April 1782, Warsaw) and Maria Zofia Sieniawska
(1698 – 21 May 1771, Warsaw). She was the sister of Prince Adam Kazimierz
Czartoryski, listed above. They were cousins of King Stanislas Poniatowski. On
9 June 1753, the sitter married Stanislaw Lubomirski (25 December 25,
Łancut - 12 August 1782, Łancut). Also see a painting for the
princess listed under 1799. The couple had four daughters: (1) Elżbieta
Lubomirska (1755–1783); (2) Aleksandra Lubomirska (1760–1836), who on 2 June
1776 would marry Stanisław Kostka Potock; (3) Konstancja Małgorzata
Lubomirska (1761–1840), who in 1782 would marry Seweryn Rzewuski; and (4) Julia
Lubomirska (1764 – 22 August 1794, Kraków), who in 1785 would marry Jan
Nepomucen Potocki (8 March 1761 – 23 December 1815). Lacking a son, the couple
raised a distant relative, Prince Henryk Lubomirski (15 Sep 1777-1850), the son
of Prince Jozef Lubomirski and Ludwika Sosnowska. An oil on canvas copy, 38
1/2" x 26 3/8", executed in Kraków in 1875 by Wincenty
Sleńdziński, is at the former Lubomirski estate, Łancut, in
southeastern Poland. Sleńdziński’s copy may have been the one published
in Portrety Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski &
Stanislav Wasylewski, 1927.
1793 "Countess von Schönfeld
and Her Daughter," oil on canvas, 53 1/2" x 39" (136 x 99
cm), signed and dated lower left: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun a / Vienne 1793.
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson. Baillio (1982), p. 106
(b&w); museum postcard. {"1 Mme de Schoenfeld, wife of the
minister of Saxony, holding her child on her knee."} {"Mlle de
Fries[‘] … sister the Countess Schoenfeld ..." - Chap. XI} Baillio
(1982) (see description)
gives her name as Ursula Margaretha Agatha Victoria. However, according to the Gothaisches
Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Gräflichen Häuser, p. 747 (1901), the
sitter’s name was Ursula Margareta Agnes Viktoria Ludovika.
[Communication of Timothy F. Boettger.] She lived 1767-1805. She was the
daughter of Count Johann von Fries (1719-1785) and Anne d’Echerny. In 1788, she
married Count Johann Hilmar Adolf von Schönfeld (1743-1820). Their daughter,
Friederike Dorothea Henirette, was born 1 Nov 1789; in 1813 she would marry
Count Leopold von Schladen. [Communication of Jana Talkenberg--Sources: Gräfl.
Taschenbuch (1910), p. 747 and Dr. Hans Volkmann, Beethoven and his
relationship to Dresden (Dresden, Otto Melchert, 1942) (citing Graefl.
Taschenbuch, Wurzbach, Kneschke and letters written by Griesinger to
Boettiger).] VLB also painted the sitter’s siblings, Sophia Fries (the future
Countess Haugwitz), and Count Moriz Fries.
1793-95 "Amphion Playing the
Lyre," Private Collection, France. A study
also exists, Pushkin Museum, Moscow. {"1 Prince Henry Lubomirski,
playing the lyre as Amphyon with two naiads listening."} In the
"Miscellaneous Paintings" section, VLB listed "1 Amphyon playing
the lyre with three naïads." It is unknown whether there were two
paintings or only one: perhaps VLB listed it twice by error, or the painting
originally had two naiads, and VLB revised it to add Julie as a third naiad (or
painted a new version with three naiads). Baillio (1982) notes that
"Amphion Playing the Lyre" was exhibited at the Salon of 1817, and on
page 76 notes that Julie Le Brun was a model for one of the naïads. Angela
Demutskiy points out that the model for Amphion is Prince Lubomirski.
1793 "Princess
Karoline of Liechtenstein as Iris," oil on canvas, 87" x
62-5/8," Signed lower left: L.E. Vigée Lebrun à Vienne 1793,
possession of Fursten Liechtenstein, museum website; Baillio (2015),
p. 261 (color). {"1 Princess Liechtenstein, full-length, as Iris passing
through the clouds."} {"...her pretty face wore an expression of
divine sweetness, and this gave me the idea of depicting her as Iris. I painted
her standing, about to spring into the air. Her rainbow colored scarf [sic]
wrapped itself around her body, fluttering in the breeze." - Chap. XIII} Princess
Karoline Felicitas Engelberte von und zu Liechntenstein, née Countess von
Manderscheid-Blankenheim (13 November 1768, Vienna – 1 March 1831 in Vienna),
was the daughter of Count Johann Wilhelm von Manderscheid-Blankenheim zu
Geroldseck and Countess Johanna Maximiliana Franziska von Limburg-Stirum. On 16
November 1783, she married prince Alois I of Liechtenstein (18 August 1781 – 24
March 1805). She did not have any children with the Prince, but did have two
children with her long term lover Franz von Langendonck, captain of the
Austrian army; one was her son Karl Ludwig (1793–dead after 1868) Viscount von
Fribert. This painting (and the bust version, below), were commissioned by
her husband, Prince Alois I, who also commissioned a painting of his sister,
Maria Josefa Hermenegilde.
1793? "Princess Karoline
of Liechtenstein, bust version," oil on canvas, oval, 25 3/4" x
21 1/8" (65.4 x 53.6 cm), private collection. Art News, 2 Jun 1934,
p. 3 (misidentified as Princess Marie Elisabeth Louise of Liechtensten); Baillio
(2015), p. 260 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 165 (color). [VLB doesn’t
list this bust.]
1793 "Princess Maria
Josefa Hermenegilde von Esterhazy of Liechtenstein, as Ariadne on Naxos,"
oil on canvas, 87" x 62 5/8" (221 x 159 cm), signed lower left: L.E.
Vigée Lebrun à Vienne 1793, possession of Fursten Liechtenstein. Masterpieces
from the Collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, museum website;
Baillio (2015), p. 262 (color). {"1 Princess d’Esterhazy,
full-length, dreaming by the side of the sea, sitting on a rock."} Princess
Maria Josepha Hermenegilde (13 April 1768, Vienna – 8 August 1845, Hütteldorf),
married in Vienna on 15 September 1783 to Nicholas II, Prince Esterházy, a
wealthy Hungarian prince who served the Austrian Empire.
{"1 Princess Louise Galitzin."} Angela
Demutskiy suggests this may have been a relation of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich
Golitzyn, who died serving the Hapsburg court.
"Katherine Friefrau van Mayern," found on a website;
unlocated. {"1 Mme de Mayer."} Katharina Faber, daughter of Anton
Faber and Anne-Marie Bayer, was born in Vienna on 22 July 1775. In 1790, she
married Freiten Von Mayern (Prague 1750- Graz 1834), and was active in Viennese
society. She died in 1802. [Biography provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 A young girl bathing, for the
Queen."}
"Countess Anna Teofila Potocka,"
collection of Cab. des Estamps (per Teresa Sapieha, eldest daughter of Prince
Eustace Sapieha, in a May 12, 2003 letter to Kevin Kelly). {"1 Countess
Severin Potocka."} Princess Anna Teofila Sapiezanka (10 September 1758,
Litwa - 29 September 1813). The daughter of Prince Aleksander Michal Sapieha
and Princess Magdalena Lubomirska. She was married 19 Feb 1774 to her first
husband, Prince Hieronim Janusz Sanguszko. In 1786 she married her second
husband, Seweryn (Severin) Potocki (1762-16 September 1829), a son of Jozef
Potocki and Countess Anna Teresa Ossolinska [and a brother of the legendary Jan
Potocki (8 March 1761, Pików-23 December 1815, Uładówka)]. She had three
children by her second husband: (1) Julia Potocka (1788, Lubelskie - 18
September 1876), who would marry Kajetan Uruski (d. 5 April 1827) and after his
death Bernard Frano Marijan Caboga (6 February 1785, Dubrovnik - 19 November
1855, Vienna); (2) Leon Potocki (1788-22 March 1860, St. Petersburg), who would
marry Elżbieta Golovina (1801-October 1867); and (3) Paulina Potocka
(1793-26 June 1856, Krakow), who would marry Franciszek Ksawery
Łubieński (1784-1826). [Identified by Angela Demutskiy.] The
sitter was also painted ca. 1780 by Marcello Bacciarelli (1731-1818).
1793 "Princess Maria
von Würtemberg," oil on canvas, unlocated. {"1 Princess of
Wurtemberg."} Maria Anna (15 March 1768 -21 October 1854), the daughter
of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski [whom VLB also painted this year], and
Izabelaz Flemingów. In 1784 she married to Ludwig Friedrich Duke of Württemberg
(1756-1817), though she divorced him in 1793. (A miniature was reproduced
in Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch, 1905, IV, no. 149, and it’s possible that
it was derived from this portrait by VLB.) [Image provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 A small painting for Count
Wilsechk."} {"Halfway through my journey to Milan, I was detained for
two days because of my French nationality, I wrote immediately requestion
permission to stay in the town, and Count Wilsheck, the Austrian ambassador in
Milan, obtained it for me. - Chapter X} Graf Wilczek, Austrian ambassador in
Milan. [Thanks to Gerrit Walczak for the identification, and for pointing
out VLB’s mention of the sitter in her Memoirs.]
{"1 Mme la Comtesse de Braonne, down to the
knee."}
{"1 A small portrait for Mme de
Carpeny."}
1793-94 "Yolande
Gabrielle Martine, Duchess of Polignac," pastel on paper, 15 1/2"
x 11" (43.2 x 28.3 cm), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. All the Paintings of
the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 1976, p. 800. [This pastel isn’t listed or
mentioned by VLB; perhaps it was done in preparation for the painting mentioned
below. Angela Demutskiy reports that a contemporary engraving, either of this
pastel, or perhaps of the following painting (if it was prepared from this
pastel) was prepared in Vienna by Fisher in 1794, and was later re-engraved
by J. Smith, London.]
{"1 Madame la Duchesse de Polignac, painted
from memory after her death."} She died in Vienna in 1793, shortly
after learning of Marie Antoinette’s execution.
{"1 The young Edmond, a member of the
Polignac family."} Edmond de Villerot (known in Russia as Karl
Pavlovich alias Karlovich Villerot), illegitimate son of Diane Louise Augustine
de Polignac (1742-1817), comtesse-chanoinesse and dame d’honneur of Mme
Elisabeth (sister of Louis XVI), and Jean Thérèse Louis Joseph de Beaumont
(1738-1831), chevalier, seigneur d’Autichamp. Edmond apparently emigrated with
the Polignac family as he is cited as having entered Russian service in 1796.
He served in the Azovskii Musketeer Regiment and was later a lieutenant (1798),
then colonel, in the Preobrazhenskii Regiment of the Guards. He received the
Order of St. Anne 3rd class in 1804. He died at Austerlitz in battle on 2
December 1805. (He is often referred to as the marquis de Villerot,
although he in fact had no right to this title.) [Identification and
information courtesy of Timothy F. Boettger. His source: Georges Martin, Histoire
et généalogie de la maison de Polignac (Lyon: G Martin, 2002), p. 73.]
[Note that there’s no evidence that VLB painted this sitter’s mother, Dianne de
Polignace. She could have been referred to as Mlle de Polignac (being
unmarried), or as Comtesse de Polignac or Mme de Polignac (as Louis XVI granted
her the title of "Dame Comtesse" in 1777). VLB did list Mme de
Polignac numerous times, but it’s believed that she was referring to Duchess de
Polignac. Histoire et Genealogie de la Maison de Polignac simply
mentions two portraits of Diane, one by Danloux and one by Drouais, not one by
VLB. (Information courtesy of Timothy F. Boettger.)]
"Princess Pélagie
Roza Potocka Sapieha," oil on canvas, 55 1/8" x 43
1/4" (140 x 110 cm). Chateau De Montrésor, France. Color image by Jan
Slupski. Also published: Portrety Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun (b&w),
by Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav Wasylewski, 1927; Kolekcjonerzy i
milosnicy, by Andrzej Ryszkiewicz, Warsaw 1981, il. 53 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 263 (color). {"1 Princess Sapieha."} A miniature of
this painting is attributed to Auguste Louis Jean-Baptiste Rivière (1761-1833),
older brother of VLB’s sister-in-law, Suzanne Vigée. The miniature is oil on
panel, oval, 7" x 6," Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery,
San Marino, California; illustrated in The Huntington Art Collections: A
Handbook, 1986; color photo by Angela Demutskiy. Rivière travelled with VLB
for part of her time in exile, copying many of her portraits in miniature.
[Lada Nikolenko had found a contemporary record of a portrait of Princess
Sapieha, leaning against a rock by a waterfall, but that must have referred to
the painting of a different sitter, Anna Potocka, whose second husband had been
Prince Casimir Sapieha.] Pélagie Roza Potocka (1775-1846), the daughter of
Count Stanislaw Feliks Potocki and Józefina Amalia Mniszech. She married around
1793 to Prince Franciszek Sapieha-Rozanski (1772-1829), and divorced him in
1806. She remarried the same year, to Prince Pawel Sapieha-Suffczynski
(1781-1846). See above for a portrait of this sitter dancing with a shawl
(incorrectly labeled by VLB as representing Countess Zamoiska), and the third
portrait immediately below.
1794 "Princess Pélagie
Roza Potocka Sapieha ("Maenad's Head")," 18 3/4" x 13
3/8" (47.5 x 34 cm). Portrety Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by
Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav Wasylewski, 1927. Teresa Sapieha, eldest
daughter of Prince Eustace Sapieha, in a May 12, 2003 letter to Kevin Kelly,
reports that this painting, unlisted by VLB, was a bust of Pélagie Potocka that
belonged to Muzeum Zamoyskich (Zamoyski’s Blekitny Palace in Warsaw), It was
destroyed by fire in September 1939. [Image from Julia Slupska.]
1793 "Julie Le Brun, holding a scroll of
music," formerly with Newhouse Galleries, New York. [Cited by Baillio
(1982), p. 76.] Olivier Blanc notes this was exhibited at Biennale des
Antiquaires, Paris, Grand Palais, 1984; the catalogue describes that Julie was
wearing a blue dress and red sash, singing a play of Zingarelli.
1793 "Countess Maria
Theresa Czernin," oil on canvas, 54" x 39," Private
collection. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Countess Maria Theresa
Czernin, née Schönborn-Heussenstam (1758-1838). Auctioned 30-Jan-1998.
1794 "Self Portrait,"
oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 20 1/2" (64.2 x 52 cm), signed and dated at
lower right: L E. Vigee LeBrun / a Vienne 1794. Private collection.
Parkstone Int'l, ISBN9781785250729, p. 165 (color). {Not listed or mentioned by
VLB}
1793 "Woman in a
Turban," oil on canvas, 33 1/4" x 29" (84.4 x 73.7 cm),
signed and dated at lower right: l. Vigée Le Brun / à Vienne / 1793.
National Museum, Warsaw. Haldane Macfall, Louise-Élisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN
(2015), p. 150 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles
(2016), p. 113 (color). Jan Bialostocki and Michal Walicki, Spis portretow
polskich Vigée Le Brun, suggest that the sitter was Helena Przezdziecka
(1753-1821), who on 26 April 1771 married Michał Hieronim, Prince
Radziwiłł, Palatin of Wilno (10 October 1744, Kraków - 28 March 1831,
Warsaw). However, Danielewicz makes clear that this is not possible, as the
sitter's features do not resemble those of Helena Radziwiłł, who also
famously had grey hair from an early age. Furthermore, Helena
Radziwiłł owned other works by VLB, including a portrait of her
daughter, Aniela Radziwiłł, and she corresponded with VLB, without
there being any evidence that she had sat for the artist herself. Finally, the
painting had long been in the possession of the Przezdziecki family, which
considered the sitter to be anonymous. Jana Talkenberg notes a strong
resemblance to countess Konstancja Małgorzata Rzewuska, née Lubomirska
(1761, Valley, Bavaria – 11 October 1840, Kamieniec), a daughter of Prince
Stanisław Lubomirski (25 December 1722, Łańcut – 12 August 1782,
Łańcut) and his wife, Princess Izabela Czartoryska. In 1782,
Konstancja married Seweryn Rzewuski (13 March 1743, Podhorce – 11 December
1811, Vienna). One source states that she lived in Vienna from 1792, so VLB
could have painted her there in 1793. Konstancja and her husband had three
children, (1) Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski (15 December 1784, Lwów – 14 May
1831), explorer, poet, orientalist and horse expert; (2) Isabella Rzewuska,
whom on 9 May 1812 married Count Ferdinand Ernst Joseph Gabriel von Waldstein
und Wartenberg (24 March 1762, Vienna – 26 May 1823, Vienna); and (3)
MariaRzewuska (1786-1832), who married Jaroslaw Potocki (1784-1831).
PASTELS
PAINTED IN VIENNA [1792-95]
1793 "Felix Woyna in
profile," pastel, 28 x 44 cm, signed and dated: E. L. V.-LeBrun
1783. Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800, by Neil Jeffares
(Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 Count Woina, son of the Polish
ambassador."} Felix Woyna (1787-1857).
1793 "Caroline Woyna,"
pastel, 28 x 44 cm, signed and dated: E. L. V.-LeBrun 1783. {"1
Mlle Caroline Woina, his sister."} Caroline Woyna (1786-1840). She
married Mr. Jablownowski.
“Comtesse Metzy de Polignac,” pastel. {"1
Mlle la Comtesse Metzy de Polignac, daughter of the father of the Duc de
Polignac."} Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006). The father of the duc de Polignac was
Louis-Melchior-Armand, vicomte de Polignac, who married twice. The vicomte had
a daughter by his second wife, Elisabeth-Julie-Diane (1785-?), who married
Sabakhin, chancellor of Russia. The geneaologies are generally silent as to
whether the vicomte had daughters by his first wife. One mentions a Diane
Louise Augustine de Polignac (1748-1817), and another source says there were
two daughters by the first wife. None has been identified as a Comtesse Metzy.
VLB's wording "daughter of the father" in lieu of "sister"
is also very strange.
1793 "Princess Theresia
Maria von Hardig," pastel, inscribed in an oval, extensively reworked
by a later hand, 18" x 15 1/8" (45.9 x 38.3 cm), signed, inscribed
and dated at lower right: L. LeBrun / a Vienne / 1793. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Christie's Sale 3786
(31 March 2016). {"1 Comtesse Thérèse de Hardik."} Princess
Theresia Maria von Hartig (1785-1830).
"Auguste Jules
Armand Marie de Polignac," black crayon and pastel highlights on brown
paper, 14 1/8" x 10 5/8" (36 x 27 cm); Musée du Louvre, Paris. Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio
(2015), p. 257 (color). {"1 The two brothers of the Duchesse de
Guiche."} Auguste Jules Armand Marie de Polignac (1780-1847), son of
the duc and duchesse de Polignac, who became comte de Polignac in 1817 upon his
father’s death, and who was made prince in 1820 by Pope Pius VII.
"Camille Henri Melchior de Polignac," pastel, 14
1/8" x 10 5/8" (36 x 27 cm). Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 The two brothers of
the Duchesse de Guiche."} Camille Henry Melchior de Polignac
(1781-1855), a son of the duc and duchesse de Polignac.
1793? "Moritz Graf von Fries,"
pastel, 18 1/2" x 12 1/2"; a photograph of this pastel, attributed to
VLB, was located in the Witt Library. {"1 Brother of Mlle de Fries,
half-length."} Count Moritz Christian Reichsgraf von Fries (1777-1826),
the son of Count Johann von Fries and Anne von Escherny, was a banker and court
treasurer. VLB also painted his sisters, Sophia Fries (the future Countess
Haugwitz), and Countess von Schönfeld.
"Comtesse Anne Charlotte Alexandrine de
Thiennes de Rumbeke," {"2 The Comtesse de Rombec, half-length."}
{"I also frequented the home of the Comtesse de Rombec, sister of Count
Cobentzel." - Chap. XII} Comtesse Anne Charlotte Alexandrine de
Thiennes de Rumbeke, née de Cobenzl (11 December 1755, Brussels – 20 December
1812, Vienna) was a daughter of comte Johann Karl Philipp de Cobenzl (21 July
1712, Laibach (now Ljubljana) – 27 January 1770, Brussels), a politician in the
Habsburg Monarchy, and his wife, comtesse Maria Theresia Katharina Walburga
Pálffy ab Erdöd (1719 - 1771). She was married to Charles Marie Joseph de
Thiennes, comte de Rumbeke (born 1758). They lived in an Austrian part of
Netherlands (château Rumbeke, now in Belgium), and other times in Vienna. At
Vienna, the sitter was the first pupil and supporter of W. A. Mozart, who dedicated
several compositions to her. She was famous as a „salonnière" at her time.
For comparison, here is a portrait by Johann Daniel Donat (1744-1830). [Information
courtesy Jana Talkenberg.]
{"1 Comte Jules de Polignac."} Armand-Jules-Francois
(1747-1817) was made duc in 1780. Thus, "Comte" was either a mistake
for "Duc," or could very well refer to his eldest son,
Armand-Jules-Heraclius (1771-1847). Armand-Jules-Heraclius would have been
comte at this time, advancing to duc upon his father’s death in 1817.
"Maria Christiane
Josepha Lichnowskaya," oil on canvas, oval, 47 1/4" x 37
3/8" (120 x 95 cm). {"1 Princess Linovska."} {"...three in
particular were noted for their beauty: Princess Linoska..." - Chap. XI} Maria
Christiane Josepha Thun (25 July 1765-1841) was a daughter of Imperial
Chamberlain Count Franz Joseph Anton von Thun und Hohenstein (1734-1801) and
Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein, née Countess Uhlfeldt (13
June 1744, Vienna - 18 May 1800, Vienna). On 24 November 1788, the sitter
married Prince Karl Alois Lichnowsky (21 June 1761, Vienna - 15 April 1814,
Vienna). For comparison, here is a portrait
by Joseph Grassi, ca. 1788, and also a miniature of
the sitter (center) and her two sisters, by Heinrich Friedrich Füger. VLB
painted other relatives of the sitter: (1) her sister, Countess Maria Elisabeth
Razumovskaya (1764-1806); (2) her sister, Lady Marie Caroline Anna Gillford
(1769-1800); and (3) their mother, Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und
Hohenstein. [Information and photos provided by Jana Talkenberg.]
"Marie-Caroline von Thun, Lady Gillford," pastel, 16
3/4" x 12 3/8" (42.5 x 31.5 cm), National Museum in Warsaw. Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006).
{"1 Lady Guisford."} Marie Caroline Thun (1769-1800) was a
daughter of Imperial Chamberlain Count Franz Joseph Anton von Thun und
Hohenstein (1734-1801) and Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein,
née Countess Uhlfeldt (13 June 1744, Vienna - 18 May 1800, Vienna). The sitter
married Richard Meade, Lord Gillford, 2nd Earl Clanwilliam (1766-1805). For
comparison, here is a portrait by Joseph Grassi, ca. 1788, Castle Kozel, Czech
Republik, and also a miniature of the sitter (right) and her two sisters, by
Heinrich Friedrich Füger. VLB painted other relatives of the sitter: (1) her
sister, Countess Maria Elisabeth Razumovskaya (1764-1806); (2) her sister,
Princess Maria Christiane Josepha Lichnowskaya (25 July 1765-1841); and (3)
their mother, Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein. [Information
and photos provided by Jana Talkenberg.] [Olivier Blanc notes that the profile
of Lady Guisford is very similar to a profile said to be by VLB, of Bystra, which
is in the preceding section.]
“Henriette de Choisy,” pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"2 Mlles de
Choisy."} Anne-Charlotte-Henriette de Choisy, later vicomtesse d'
Agoult (22 October 1759, Mognéville (Meuse) - 1841, Goritz) was a daughter of
Charles John Marquis de Choisy and Margaret of Ourches. She was a friend of the
duchess d’Angoulême à Vienne and a lady-in-waiting to the Dauphine. In 1815,
she married Antoine Jean, vicomte d'Agoult (Commander of the Order of St.
Lazarus; Lieutenant-General and Grand Cross of the Order of St. Louis; first
equerry to Madame Dauphine; governor of Saint-Clouid; peer of France December
23, 1823; Knight of the Holy Spirit May 30, 1825. He died in 1828.). Identified
by Olivier Blanc.
“Charlotte de Choisy,” pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"2 Mlles de
Choisy."} Anne-Françoise-Charlotte de Choisy, called Mlle de
Moignéville or comtesse Charlotte de Choisy.
{"1 Mlle Schoën."}
“Agénor,” pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 Agénor, young son of
the Duchesse de Polignac."}
{"1 Her brother [sic] the young count, M. de
Fries."} Count Moritz Graf von Fries was a brother of Mlle de Fries and
Countess Schoenfeld, who are listed in the previous Vienna section (before this
section on pastels in Vienna). Perhaps this listing "her brother" was
originally placed directly below those entries. However, there is an earlier
pastel listing for Count von Fries in this section, and it is not known if VLB
prepared a second portrait or if this is simply a duplicated listing.
"Countess Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und
Hohenstein," unlocated. {"1 The Comtesse de Thoun."}
{"...my first visit was to Countess Thoun." - Chap. XI} Countess
Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein, née Countess Uhlfeldt (13 June 1744,
Vienna - 18 May 1800, Vienna), a daughter of Imperial Count of the Realm Anton
Corfiz Ulfeld (also spelled Uhlfeldt; 1699-1770) and his second wife, Maria
Elisabeth (1726-1786), Princess von Lobkowitz. On 30 July 1761, the sitter
married Imperial Chamberlain Count Franz Joseph Anton von Thun und Hohenstein
(1734-1801). The sitter is remembered for her patronage of Mozart and
Beethoven. The couple had six children, with four surviving to adulthood. VLB
painted three of the couple's daughters: (1) Countess Maria Elisabeth
Razumovskaya (1764-1806); (2) Princess Maria Christiane Josepha Lichnowskaya
(1765-1841); and (3) Lady Marie Caroline Anna Gillford (1769-1800).
[Information provided by Jana Talkenberg.]
“Gräfin von Harrach,” pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 The Comtesse
d’Harrack."} Born Maria Antonia von Falkenhayn (1738–1809).
{"1 A small drawing of the above."}
{"1 M. de Rivière."} {"...he
painted very well and copied all my portraits in miniature in oil; he possessed
a fine voice; he played the violin, the double bass and could accompany himself
on the piano."; Footnote 3: "M. de Rivière embraced the career of
diplomacy rather late in his career and died in Paris in 1833..." - Chap.
XI} Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Rivière, 1761-1833, older brother of VLB’s
sister-in-law, Suzanne Vigée.
{"1 M. Thomas, architect."} Angela
Demutskiy suggests this was Jean-François Thomas de Thomon (1760 – 1813). In
1794 M. Thomas was working for the Esterházy's in Vienna.
1790-1800 "Unidentifed Sitter,"
pastel on paper, glued to cloth, 22" x 18 1/4" (55.7 x 46.5 cm),
oval, Louvre, signed on the left: Mme. Le Brun. Color photo by
Francis Kelly. The Louvre has erroneously identified this sitter as
Moritz Graf von Fries, but that identification was doubted by Neil Jeffares in
his Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, and Jana Talkenberg is also
certain that the depiction does not match paintings of von Fries by other
artists. Baillio agrees that the identification is wrong. Angela Demutskiy
suggests that the buildings in the background are a hint to the identity of the
sitter, and that perhaps he was an architect, specifically the above listing M.
Thomas, whom Angela believes was Jean-François Thomas de Thomon (1760 –
1813). Angela provides the date, based upon the sitter's clothing style and
colors.
{"1 The Comtesse de Rombec."} {"I
also frequented the home of the Comtesse de Rombec, sister of Count
Cobentzel." - Chap. XII}
“Marquis de Rivière,” pastel; Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"1 The Marquis de
Rivière."} {"Charles-François de Riffardeau, Marquis, then Duc de
Rivière, was born on December 17, 1763 in Ferte-sur-Cher and died in Paris on
April 21, 1828" - Footnote 34, Pen Portraits}. Charles-François de
Riffardeau, marquis, later duc de Rivière.
{"Landscapes near Vienna, from nature."}
{"The banks of the Danube are magnificent...on the left of where I sat I
could see the steep mountain of Kahlenberg in the distance. Charmed by this
delicious country I settled myself on the bank, and taking up my pastels
proceeded to draw these beautiful trees and the area around them." - Chap.
XIII}
IN ST.
PETERSBURG [25 July 1795 - 1801]
(Includes a trip to Moscow, from mid-October 1800 to mid-February 1801)
1795-1801 "Elisaveta Alexandrovna Demidov,
née Baroness Stroganov," unlocated. Augustin Ritt painted a miniature after
this painting, in watercolor and gouache on ivory, 12x10cm, Tretiakov Gallery,
Moscow. The miniature has been reproduced numerous times: Grand Duke Nicolas
Michailovich, Les Portraits Russes, vol. 1, fig. 100; G.N.Komelova, Augustin
Ritt - Russian miniature painter. Life and work (St.Petersbourg 2004),
p.135. {"1 Mme Dimidoff, née Stroganoff."} {"I often saw M.
Demidoff, the richest individual in Russia. . . . His enormous wealth was the
reason he was given the hand of the young Mlle Stroganoff, a member of
one of the oldest and noblest families in Russia."- Chap. XXI} Lived
1779-1818; the wife of Nicolas Demidof. The image published is Les
Portraits Russes is from a miniature. [I need to check Gazette des Beaux
Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 110 (b&w), where Lada Nikolenko may show a
different image.]
1795 "Princess
Ecaterina Nikolaevna Menshikova, née Princess Golitzyna," oil on
canvas, 52" x 38" (132 x 95 cm), National Gallery of Armenia. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 103 (b&w); museum website; Baillio
(2015), p. 25 (color). {"1 Princess Menszicoff holding her child,
three-quarter length."} {"Shortly after my arrival, I was invited to
pass the evening at the home of Princess Menkzisoff..." - Chap. XVI} Princess
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Menshikova, née Princess Golitzyna (1764-1832) was the
second daughter of Chief Marshal Prince Nikolay Mikhailovich Golitzyn (8 January
1727-2 January 1787) and Princess Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Golitzyna née
Countess Golovina (1728-9 September 1769). In 1764, she married Sergei
Aleksandrovich Menshikov (Сергей
Александрович
Меншиков) (4 September 1746-12
April 1815), Russian Lieutenant-General, senator, later appointed privy
councilor by Alexander I. She was mistress of Count Ivan Kirillovich Razumovsky
(граф
Кири́ллович
Разумовский)
(6 August 1761-6 June 1802, Rome). She is painted with her daughter, Princess
Elisabeth Sergeyevich Menshikova (1791-1802).
1795 "Marianna Potocka, née
Princess Lubomirska, later Countess Zubova and Mme. Uvarova," oil on
canvas, 43 1/4" x 58 1/4" (110 x 148 cm). At one time listed in the
Mme de Voto Collection, U.S.A.; Baillio (2015) references a private
collection in Buenos Aires. Baillio (2015), p. 32 (b&w). {"1
Countess Potocka, lying full-length on a very large divan, holding a dove to
her breast; this Countess is one of the prettiest women I have ever
painted."} Princess Marianna Lubomirska (1773-1810), daughter of Prince
Kasper Lubomirski and Barbara née Princess Lubomirska. She first married
Protazy Antoini Potocki (1761-1801) (he was in fact not a count; several
branches of the Potocki family used this title without having a legal right to
it). They divorced and she married Count Valerian Aleksandrovich Zubov
(1771-1804). Her third husband was Fedor Petrovich Uvarov (1769-1824) (also
sometimes mistakently cited with the title of count). [Biographical
information courtesy of Timothy F. Boettger--Source: http://genealogy.euweb.cz/poland/lubomir1.html.]
1795-97 "Countess (later Princess) Alexandra
Andreevna Shuvalova, later Countess Dietrichstein," oil on canvas, 25
1/4" x 21 1/2," last located in the Lanskoronski Collection, Vienna.
(Helm described the painting, "At about fifteen years old. Powdered hair
tied with ribbon. Satin dress. Muff and stole of tiger skin.") {"1
The young Countess Schouvaloff, half-length."} Countess (later
Princess) Aleksandra Andreevna Shuvalova (8 December 1775 – 10 November 1847,
Vienna) was a daughter of Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov
(Андрей
Петрович
Шувалов) (23 June 1743 - 24 April
1789) and Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Saltykova (Екатерина
Петровна
Салтыкова) (2 October
1743 - 13 October 1816, Rome). The sitter was married 10 July 1797 to Count
(later Prince) Franz Josef Karl Johann Nepomuk Quirin von Dietrichstein
Proskau-Leslie (28 April 1767 - 8 July 1854). The marriage proved very unhappy,
though, and the marriage ended in 1804. They had one child, Joseph Franz,
Prince of Dietrichstein (28 March 1798 – 10 July 1858, Friedland,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). [Identified by Angela Demutskiy.] As VLB
listed this painting in St. Petersburg, and it was before the sitter’s
marriage, it would have to be dated 1795-97, when she was around 19-21, not 15
as Helm thought. VLB also listed a second painting of the sitter in St.
Petersburg, below, and a third painting in London. VLB also painted a number of
her relatives: (1) her sister, Princess Praskovya Andreevna Golitzyna, née
Countess Shuvalova
(Прасковья Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (2) her brother, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (3) her cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess
Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (4) her cousin, Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov,
née Countess Saltykova (1777-1824); (5) her cousin, Natalia Zakharovna
Kolychёva, née Khitrovo (1774-1803); (6) her cousin, Ivan Ivanovich
Shuvalov (Иван Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg); and (7) her uncle, Field Marshal Count Ivan
Petrovich Saltykov (Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805).
1795-97 "Grand Duchess
Alexandra Pavlovna, and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Daughters of Paul I,"
oil on canvas, oval, 39" x 39" (99 x 99 cm), Hermitage. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, cover & p. 112 (b&w); Baillio
(2015), p. 275 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 177 (color). {"2 The
two young Grand Duchesses Helen and Alexandrine, both very pretty women. I
painted them together, looking at a medallion of the Empress Catherine in their
hands."} {"...the young King of Sweden … arrived in Saint Petersburg
… on August 14 1796.... I remember that when he came to my home to see the
portrait I had painted of his future fiancée [Alexandra], he gazed at the
picture with such rapt attention that his hat fell out of his hand." -
Chap. XX; Does this refer to the dual portrait, or was there an individual
portrait with which we are not familiar?} [Professor Francesco Bottin of
the Università di Padova has examined a copy [*]
in a private collection in Rome, in which the medallion
[*] features the girls’ father, Paul I, instead of their grandmother, Catherine
II. Other copies exist: one was in the Hapsburg family’s Konopischt (Konopiste)
castle in Bohemia till 1945, and another is in a small private manor called
Petersdorf (bei Lensahn), in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.] Alexandra
Pavlovna
(Александра
Павловна) (9 August 1783, Saint
Petersburg – 16 March 1801, Vienna) and Elena Pavlovna (Елена
Павловна) (24 December 1784,
Saint Petersburg – 24 September 1803, Schwerin) were the daughters of Grand
Duke Pavel Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I
(Па́вел I
Петро́вич) (1 October
[O.S. 20 September] 1754, St. Petersburg – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801, St.
Petesburh) and Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna(
Мари́я
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise, Duchess von Württemberg, later Empress
(25 October 1759, Stettin, Prussia (now Poland) – 5 November 1828). VLB first
painted them in Greek style, but Catherine’s favorite lied to VLB that the
Empress had been scandalized by their dress. VLB writes that she merely revised
the painting, adding sleeves, but x-rays of the Hermitage painting show no sign
of overpainting. We do not know if the copy in Rome has been authenticated or
studied by x-ray. In August 1796, King Gustav Adoph (1778-1837) of Sweden
visited Saint Petersburg to betroth Alexandra, but the match failed because he
refused to allow her to continue to worship according to the rites of the
Russian Orthodox Church. Instead, in 1799 she married Archduke Joseph Anton Johann
of Austria (1776-1847). Also in 1799, Elena married Friedrich Ludwig of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1778-1819). VLB painted four relations of the
sisters: (1) their brother, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later Emperor
Alexander I (Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog);
(2) their sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alekseevna
(Елизавета
Алексеевна), née
Princess Louise Maria Auguste von Baden, later Empress (24 January [O.S. 13
January] 1779, Karlsruhe – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826, Belev, Tula Province); (3)
their sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna
(Анна
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Juliane Henriette Ulrike von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (23 September 1781, Coburg –
15 August 1860, Elfenau, near Bern, Switzerland); and (4) their grandmother,
Catherine II, Empress of Russia, née Princess Sophia Auguste Fredericka von
Anhalt-Zerbst (2 May [O.S. 21 April] 1729, Stettin (now Poland) – 17 November
[O.S. 6 November] 1796, Saint Petersberg).
1795 "Grand Duchess
Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
oil on canvas, 103 3/8" x 78 3/4" (262.5 x 200 cm), Hermitage. Baillio
(2015), p. 273 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 172 (color). {"1 The
Grand Duchess Elizabeth, full-length, arranging flowers in a basket."}
{"...I painted her standing, in full court regalia, arranging a basket
full of flowers....dressed in a white tunic..." - Chap. XVII} {"The
Sunday before [Catherine II’s] death I went … to present to her my portrait of
the Grand Duchess Elisabeth." - Chap. XX} Grand Duchess Elisaveta
Alexeevna (Елизавета
Алексеевна), née
princess Luisa Maria Augusta of Baden (24 January [O.S. 13 January] 1779,
Karlsruhe – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826, Belev, Tula Province) was a daughter of
Prince Charles Louis von Baden (14 February 1755 – 16 December 1801) and
Princess Amalie von Baden, Landgravine von Hesse-Darmstadt (20 June 1754 – 21
June 1832). On 28 September 1793, she married Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich,
the future emperor Alexander I of Russia (Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog).
VLB also painted: (1) her husband, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later
Alexander I (Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog);
(2) her sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna
(Александра
Павловна), later Archduchess of
Austria (9 August 1783, St. Petersburg-16 March 1801, Vienna); (3) her
sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna
(Елена
Павловна), later Grand Duchess
von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (24 December [O.S. 13 December] 1784, St.
Petersburg-24 September 1803, Schwerin); (4) her sister-in-law, Grand Duchess
Anna Feodorovna (Анна
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Juliane Henriette Ulrike von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (23 September 1781, Coburg –
15 August 1860, Elfenau, near Bern, Switzerland); and (5) her mother-in-law,
Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (Мари́я Фёдоровна),
née Princess Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise, Duchess von Württemberg,
later Empress (25 October 1759, Stettin (Prussia, now Poland) – 5 November
1828, Pavlovsk).
{"2 Two half-length copies of the same with
hands showing."}
1795 "Grand Duchess
Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
oil on canvas. Location unknown. {"2 Another two large half-length with
one hand showing."}
1797 "Grand
Duchess Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
oil on canvas. The dimensions per Baillio (2015) are 38 3/4" x 34
1/2" (98.5 x 87.5 cm), but per Baillio (2016) are: 30 3/4 x 26
3/8" (78 x 67 cm). Signed and dated lower left: L. E. Vigée Le Brun
1797. Collection of the Hesse Family. Connaissance des Arts,
214:128, Dec. 1969 (tiny color print); Baillio (2015), p. 276 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 183 (color). {"...I painted her again, this time wearing a
thin violet shawl and reclining upon a cushion." - Chap. XVII} Baillio
considers a copy
at the Hermitage to be an autograph replica, though Angela Demutskiy
believes it is an anonymous copy. [A weaker copy, 30 3/4" x 24 3/4," is in Musée
Fabre, Montpellier; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 110
(b&w), and Angela Demutskiy believes this copy to be the work of
Borovikovskii.]
"Grand Duchess
Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
oil on canvas. This is another variant, not seeming to fit into VLB's listing.
1798? "Grand Duchess
Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
pastel. Unlocated. We believe there were two signed pastels and a third pastel
that VLB took to Dresden.
1798? "Grand Duchess
Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia, consort of Alexander I,"
pastel. Unlocated. We believe there were two signed pastels and a third pastel
that VLB took to Dresden.
1801 "Countess Anna Ivanovna Orlov, née
Saltykova," unlocated. No known reproduction. {"The wife of Marshal
Soltikoff … asked me to paint portraits of her husband and her daughter,
who had married Count Gregory Orloff, son of Count Vladimir."- Chap. XXIV}
Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova (1777-5 December 1824),
a daughter of Field Marshal Count Ivan Petrovich Saltykov
(Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805) and his wife, Countess Darya Petrovna Saltykova, née Countess Chernysheva
(1739-1802). She was well educated and a maid of honor to Catherine II. On 5
February 1800, she married Count Grigory Vladimirovich Orlov (1777-1826),
favorite nephew of Catherine II. VLB painted a number of her relatives: (1)
her father; (2) her cousin, countess Aleksandra Andreevna von Dietrichstein,
née Countess Shuvalova, later Princess (8 December 1775 – 10 November 1847,
Vienna); (3) her cousin, Princess Praskovya Andreevna Golitzyna, née Countess
Shuvalova (Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (4) her cousin, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (5) her cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess
Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (6) her cousin, Natalia Zakharovna
Kolychёva, née Khitrovo (1774-1803); and (7) her cousin, Ivan
Ivanovitch Shuvalov (Иван
Иванович Шувалов)
( 1 November 1727, Moscow - 14 November 1797, St. Petersburg). [The sitter was
noted for her blue eyes.]
1801 "Field Marshal
Count Ivan Petrovich Saltykov," signed & dated, 35" x 26
1/4," unlocated. {"The wife of Marshal Soltikoff … asked me to paint
portraits of her husband and her daughter... I had placed the portrait …
in front of [a stove] to dry and I found [it] half grilled and so badly
scorched that I was obliged to start it all over again"- Chap. XXIV} Count
Ivan Petrovich Saltykov (Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805) was a son of Field Marshal Pyotr Semyonovich Saltykov
(Пётр
Семёнович
Салтыков) (ca. 1697-1700 - 26
December 1772) and his wife, Princess Praskovia Yuriyevna Trubetskaya
(1704-67). The sitter was a Russian Field Marshal, the Governor-General of
Moscow from 1797 to 1804, and owner of the grand estate of Marfino. He was
married to Countess Darya Petrovna Saltykova, née Countess Chernysheva
(1739-1802). VLB painted a number of his relatives: (1) his daughter, Anna
Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova (1777-5 December 1824); (2) his niece,
Countess Aleksandra Andreevna von Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova, later
Princess (8 December 1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna); (3) his niece, Princess
Praskovya Andreevna Golitzyna, née Countess Shuvalova
(Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (4) his nephew, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (5) his cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess
Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); and (6) his cousin, Ivan Ivanovitch Shuvalov
(Иван
Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg).
1795-96 "Grand Duchess Anna
Feodorovna, consort of Grand Duke Constantine," oil on canvas. Pushkin
Museum, Moscow. [Seized by Red Army from Herzoglisches Schlossmuseum, Gotha,
Germany. At one time was believed destroyed, Baillio (1982).] Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 111 (b&w). {"2 The Grand Duchess
Anne. Two half-length portraits."} {"...I completed a portrait of the
Grand Duchess Anne, wife of the Grand Duke Constantin. Born Princess
Coburg..." - Chap. XVII} Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna
(Анна
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Juliane Henriette Ulrike von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (23 September 1781, Coburg –
15 August 1860, Elfenau, near Bern, Switzerland) was a daughter of Franz
Frederick Anton, Duke von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1750-1806) and Augusta Caroline
Reuss, Duchess von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, née Countess von Ebersdorf (1757-1831).
The sitter married Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, later Konstantin I
(1779-1833). VLB also painted: (1) her sister-in-law, Grand Duchess
Alexandra Pavlovna
(Александра
Павловна), later Archduchess of
Austria (9 August 1783, St. Petersburg-16 March 1801, Vienna); (2) her
sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna
(Елена
Павловна), later Grand Duchess
von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (24 December [O.S. 13 December] 1784, St. Petersburg-24
September 1803, Schwerin); (3) her sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elizaveta
Alekseevna (Елизавета
Алексеевна), née
Princess Louise Maria Auguste von Baden, later Empress (24 January [O.S. 13
January] 1779, Karlsruhe – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826, Belev, Tula Province); (4)
her mother-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (Мари́я
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise, Duchess von Württemberg, later Empress
(25 October 1759, Stettin, Prussia (now Poland) – 5 November 1828, Pavlovsk);
and (5) her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later Emperor
Alexander I (Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog).
1795-96 "Grand Duchess Anna
Feodorovna, consort of Grand Duke Constantine," oil on canvas. Castle
Novy dvur (Schönhof, Bohemia, Czech Republic). [Information provided by Jana
Talkenberg.] {"2 The Grand Duchess Anne. Two half-length portraits."}
{"...I completed a portrait of the Grand Duchess Anne, wife of the Grand
Duke Constantin. Born Princess Coburg..." - Chap. XVII} [Another portrait,
shown in Portraits Russes, vol. 5, fig. 1, was called a VLB portrait of
this sitter, but this is wrong. Nikolenko reports this is by Borovikovsky, and
this is also the view of Angela Demutskiy. Furthermore, a color image shows a
sitter with light-colored hair.]
1796 "Countess
Ecaterina Vassilievna Skavronskaya, née Engelhardt," oil on canvas, 31
1/2" x 26" (80 x 66 cm), signed and dated at left: E. Louise Vigée
Le Brun /a St Petersbourg / 1796. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Beaux
Arts, 6 Dec 1935; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Feb 1967, sup. 13
(b&w); Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 102 (b&w); La
Revue du Louvre, 17:4-5, p. 265-72; Baillio (1982), p. 109
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 271 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 179
(color). Another copy is at Kunstmuseum, Bern. {"2 The Countess
Scavronska. Two half-length. (Just like the half-length portraits I had painted
in Naples)."} See the Baillio (1982) description.
1796-97 "Countess Anna
Sergeevna Stroganova and Her Son," oil on canvas, 35 5/8" x 28
3/4" (90.5 x 73 cm). Hermitage, Paintings in the Hermitage by Colin
Eisler; Stroganoff: The Palace and Collections of a Russian Noble Family,
p. 146; Baillio (2015), p. 269 (color). {"1 Countess Stroganoff
holding her child."} [VLB actually painted two Countess Stroganov’s with
their children, this one is the wife of Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov;
VLB also had painted this couple in Vienna, when they were Baron and Baroness.]
Anna Sergeevna, born Princess Troubetzkoy, lived 1765-1824; she was the
sister of Countess Ecaterina Sergeevna Somoilov, another of VLB’s sitters. In
1791 she married Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov, and bore him five sons and a
daughter. Painted with her son, Sergei Grigorievich, 2nd Count Stroganov
(1794-1882).
1800-01 "Countess Natalia Pavlovna
Stroganov," signed and dated, (as 4-5 year old girl, head & shoulders,
white frock - no reproduction known), pastel, unlocated. [Not listed or
mentioned by VLB.] Lived 1796-1872, daughter of Count Pavel Alexandrovich
Stroganov and his wife née Princess Sophia Vladimirovna Golitsyna. She married
her cousin, Sergei Grigorievich, 2nd Count Stroganov, whom VLB also painted as
a child, in a portrait with his mother (previous listing).
1798 "Countess Sofia
Vladimirovna Stroganov, née Princess Galitzine," oil on canvas,
Pushkin Museum, Moscow. The color image was found on a Russian website. A black
and white photo
had been published in Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967 (b&w), p.
108, but isn’t as attractive, so is probably a copy after VLB. [A copy had been
reported in the Ivanovo Oblast Art Museum.] {"1 Countess Stroganoff
holding her child."} She was the wife of Count Paul Alexandrovich
Stroganov, and lived 1775-1845.
ca. 1790 "Count Paul
Alexandrovich Stroganov," Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967,
p. 118 (b&w). {"1 A matching half-length portrait of her
husband."} Paul Alexandrovich Stroganov, (June 7, 1772, Paris - June
10, 1817), was a Russian military commander and statesman, a friend and close
associate of Alexander I. A variant,
oil on canvas, 11 1/4" x 13 3/4" (28.5 x 35 cm), Hermitage.
Haldane Macfall, Louise-Élisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN (2015), p. 133. The faces
between the two versions are very different, as the Hermitage face is rounder,
whereas the version published in Gazette des Beaux Arts is more angular.
“Young Comte
Stroganov,” Musée Fondation Zoubov, Genève, museum website. Jana
Talkenberg, who alerted us to this image, suggests that the sitter "might
be Alexander Pavlovich (1794-1814), a son of Pavel Alexandrowich Stroganov and
his wife Sofia Vladimirovna, born Trubetskaya. The alternative might be Sergei
Grigorievich Stroganov (1794-1882), a son of baron Grigori Alexandrovich and
his wife Anna Sergeievna, born Trubetskaya. He married later Natalia Pavlovna
Stroganova. His parents had 3 other sons (Alexander, born 1795, Alexei, born
1797, and Valentin born 1801)."
1797 "Countess Ecaterina
Sergeevna Somoilov, née Princess Troubetzkoy, with two of her children,"
oil on canvas, 90 1/4" x 70 1/8" (229 x 178 cm), signed and dated
lower left: Vigee Le Brun Petersbourg 1797, Hermitage. Grand Duke
Nicolas Michailovich, Les Portraits Russes; Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p. 102 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 283 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 191 (color). {"1 Countess Sammoicloff with her children
near her."} Lived 1763-1830. The daughter of Prince Sergei
Aleksandrovich Trubetskoy and Princess Elena Vasilievna Nesvitskaya, she
married Count Alexander Nikolayevich Samoilov, nephew of Catherie II's husband,
Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin. In 1782, the sitter became a maid of
honor at Catherine's court. She is shown with her son Grigory Alexandrovich (d.
1811 during the Russian-Turkish war) and her daughter Elena Alexandrovna
(1787-1843), who later married Dmitry Donets-Zakharzhevsky. VLB had twice
painted her sister, Baroness (later Countess) Anna Sergeevna Stroganova.
1796 "Countess Ecaterina
Vladimirovna Apraxine, née Princess Galitzine," oil on canvas,
44" x 37" (112 x 94 cm), signed and dated. Private collection. Les
Portraits Russes, by Grand Duke Nicolas Michailovich, 1905, vol. 1, fig.
155; color image from Witt Library; Baillio (2015), p. 280
(color). {"1 Countess Apraxine, large half-length."} Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006), lists a pastel bust of
this sitter by VLB. Olivier Blanc has provided this image (see unframed detail),
which may be the pastel of this sitter. Ecaterina Vladimirovna Golitsyna
(1768 - 1854) was a daughter of prince Vladimir Borissovitch Golitsyne
(1731-98) and comtesse Natalia Petrovna Tchernycheva (1739-1837). In 1793, she
married a cousin, lieutenant general comte Stepan Stepanovitch Apraxine
(1757-1827). The couple had five children, though only three survived to
adulthood: Natalie (1794-1890); Vladimir (1794-1833); and Sophia (1796-1885),
the future wife of the civil Governor of Moscow, Prince Alexei Grigorievich
Chtcherbatov. The sitter's beauty, temper and stern expression led to the
nickname, "Enraged Venus." She was the sister-in-law of Princess
Eudocia Ivanovna Galitzine, whom VLB also painted.
1797 "Princess Tatiana
Vassilievna Youssoupov, née Engelhardt, Mme Potemkin in her first marriage,"
oil on canvas, 55 1/2" x 41" (141 x 104 cm), signed and dated on the
tree trunk: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun 1797 / a St Petersbourg.
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 105
(b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 111 (b&w); Art International,
Jul/Aug 1983, p. 26; L’Oeil, 396-397:45, Jul/Aug 1988; Mayer,
1989; Baillio (2016), p. 187 (color). {"1 Princess Youssoupoff,
half-length."} [Sold for $833,330 5/30/88.] Lived 1769-1841, a sister
of Varvara Galitzin and Catherine Skavronsky, whom VLB also painted. She had
married Lieutenant General Mikhail Sergueivitch Potemkin in 1785, bearing him
two children. He died in 1791, and in 1793 she married the wealthy landowner
Prince Nicholas Borisovitch Youssoupoff (1751-1831). She bore him a son, Boris,
heir to his fortune. See the Baillio (1982) description.
1797? "Prince Boris
Nicholaevitch Youssoupov, as Cupid," oil on canvas, circular, 17
3/8" x 17 3/8" (44 x 44 cm), signed and dated: Le Brun 1797.
Regional Art Museum, Chernigov, Ukraine. {"1 Her son."} Image located
by Angela Demutskiy.
1797 "Countess Irina
Ivanovna Vorontzov, née Izmailov," oil on canvas, 25 1/4" x 29
7/8" (64.1 x 75.9 cm), location unknown. The image is a photolithograph
after the original VLB, as reproduced in Grand Duke Nicolas Michailovich, Les
Portraits Russes 1905-09, vol. 4, no. 107; Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul-Aug 1967, p. 104 (b&w). {"2 Countess Worandxoff,
half-length."}Lived 1768-1848, sister of Princess Eudocia Ivanovna
Galitzine, whom VLB also painted. She is reading a play by Racine. A report
states that the original portrait had been in Gatchina Palace Museum but was
"lost" during World War II. The same museum now has an oval version,
newly restored, which they consider to be after VLB (though Angela Demutskiy suggests
that it could be the original).
ca. 1797 "Portrait of a
Woman," oil on canvas, 32 3/8" x 27 3/4" (82.2 x 70.5 cm),
Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Baillio (1982), p. 45 (b&w); museum
slide; Baillio (2015), p. 287 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 195
(color). Baillio suggests that this sitter could possibly be Irina Ivanovna
Vortonzov, but while the earlobes look the same as that sitter (in the
previously listed painting), the mouth and eyes are different. Angela Demutskiy
suggested that the sitter could be Ekaterina Artemyevna Vorontsova (1780-1836),
maid of honor to Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, based on similarities to a painting
by Levitzky [*] when Ekaterina was ten years old, but in Baillio (2016),
Anna Sulimova notes that this painting doesn't match portraits of that sitter
by others. Sulimova believes that a proper identification will have to wait.See
the Baillio (1982) description. An autograph copy of the painting with a
landscape of trees in the background was sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York
(Oct. 28-29, 1977), with the sitter identified as Irina Ivanovna Vortonzov in
that auction.
ca. 1797-1800 "Countess Varvara
Nikolaevna Golovin, née Princess Galitzine," oil on canvas, octagonal,
32 7/8" x 26 1/4" (83.5 x 66.7 cm), Barber Institute of Fine Arts,
University of Birmingham, England, Baillio (1982), p. 28 (color); Art
in America, Nov 1982; Apollo, 118:306, Oct 1983; The Sweetness of
Life (color); Baillio (2015), p. 289 (color); Baillio (2016),
p. 201 (color). {"1 Countess Golovin with one hand showing."}
{"Countess Golovin was a charming woman …"- Chap. XVIII} Countess
Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess Golitzyna
(Варвара
Николаевна
Головина, урожденная
княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819) was the
youngest child of Lieutenant-General Count Nikolai Fedorovich Golitzyn
(1728-80) and Countess Praskovya Ivanovna, nee Countess Shuvalova (1734-1827).
The sitter was married in 1786 to Count Nicolai Nicolayevich Golovin
(1759-1821). She was an artist, favorite niece of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, and
maid of honor to Catherine II. This painting was possibly painted in Moscow
in 1800, where VLB listed a payment from a Golovin. See the Baillio (1982)
description.
VLB painted a number of her relatives: (1) her uncle, Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov
(Иван
Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg); (2) her cousin, Countess Aleksandra
Andreevna von Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova, later Princess (8 December
1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna); (3) her cousin, Princess Praskovya Andreevna
Golitzyna, née Countess Shuvalova
(Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (4) her cousin, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (5) her cousin, Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova
(1777-1824); (5) her cousin, Natalia Zakharovna Kolychёva, née Khitrovo
(1774-1803); (6) her cousin, Natalia Zakharovna Kolychёva, née Khitrovo
(1774-1803); and (7) her cousin, Field Marshal Count Ivan Petrovich Saltykov
(Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805).
1796 "Countess Anna
Ivanovna Tolstoy, née Princess Bariatinsky," oil on canvas, 54
1/4" x 41" (137.7 x 104 cm), signed and dated: L. E.. Vigée le
Brun/ 1796 à St Petersbourg. Private collection (loaned to the National
Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). Baillio (2015), p. 279 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 180 (color). {"1 Countess Tolstoi, half-length, leaning on
a rock near a waterfall."} {"Countess Tolstoy was an intimate friend
of [Countess Golovin’s], a kind and beautiful woman … - Chap. XVIII} Anna
Ivanovna Bariatinsky (December 5, 1774 - April 12, 1825) was a daughter of Prince
Ivan Baryatinsky, a former ambassador of Catherine II to the court of Louis
XVI, and his wife Princess Catherine Petrovna Holstein-Beck of Oldenburg. In
1787, the sitter married Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy (1765–1816), with
whom she had four children: 1) Ekaterina (15 August 1789 - 11 February 1870),
who would marry Lieutenant General Prince Constantine Ksaverevichem Lubomirski
(1786–1870); 2) Eudokia (1793–1797); 3) Alexander Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1793 –
1866, Nice), who would marry Princess Anna Mikhailovna Scherbatova; and
4)Emmanuel (1802–1825). The sitter was nicknamed "White queen," and
her friends called her "La Longue," in reference to her height.
1797 "Princess Natalia
Ivanovna Kourakin, née Golovina," oil on canvas, 33" x 27
3/4" (83.8 x 70.5 cm), signed and dated. Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt
Lake City. Museum website; Baillio (2015), p. 78 (color).
{"2 Princess Alexis Kourakin and her husband the Prince."}
{"The kindly Princess Kourakin, whose acquaintance I had recently
made..." - Chap. XVI} Lived 1768-1831. She was awarded the Order of
Saint Catherine in 1797. The sitter was formerly misidentified by the
museum as Elizabeth Vladimirovna Shuvalova, but the only Countess Shuvalova by
that name was born after VLB’s death, per correspondence from Timothy F.
Boettger. Angela Demutskiy correctly identified the sitter, first noting the
painting’s musical theme and recalling that Nikolenko had identified Princess
Natalia Kourakin as a talented musician and singer. Angela then located a 1795
painting of Princess Kourakin by Borovikovskii, which confirms Angela’s
identification of this sitter. Angela has also identified the song featured in
the painting as being "Se non ti moro allato," from the libretto Adriano,
by Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782). Angela has not yet identified the
accompanying musical notes, so it is not yet known who composed the music
featured in the songbook. Angela's detective work was accepted
by the museum! VLB’s student, Emilie Benoist, engraved this portrait in 1818,
though the engraving is unlocated.
1799 "Prince
Alexsei Borisovich Kurakin," unlocated. [A darker
photo shows a larger area of the drawing.] {"2 Princess Alexis
Kourakin and her husband the Prince."} Lived 1759-1829, the
younger brother of Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin, whom VLB also painted.
Alexey was general procurator of the Senate under Paul I; minister of interior
affairs under Alexander I; chancellor of Chapter of the Orders (Ordenskii Kapitul)
under Nicholas I. [Photograph supplied by Timothy F. Boettger.]
1797 "Stanislaw II
Augustus Poniatowski, King of Poland," oil on canvas, 40" x
34" (101.5 x 86.5 cm), signed and dated. Museum of Western and Oriental
Art, Kiev, Ukraine. {"2 The King of Poland, Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski.
Two large half-length paintings, one in the costume of Henri IV, the
other in a velvet coat which I have kept."} {"I … finished a portrait
of … the King of Poland, dressed as Henry the IV. This was the first time I had
painted that kind Prince, and I kept the painting for myself." - Chap.
XXII} [VLB thus disagrees with herself about which portrait she kept; she no
doubt kept the one with the velvet cloak, which is now at Musée National du
Château de Versailles.] Stanisław II August, born Stanisław Antoni
Poniatowski (17 January 1732, Volchin, Belarus – 12 February 1798, St.
Petersburg) was a son of Count Stanisław Poniatowski, Castellan of Kraków
(September 15, 1676, Chojnik, Poland – August 29, 1762, Ryki, Poland), and
Princess Konstancja Czartoryska (ca. 1696 or 29 January 1700, Warsaw – 27
October 1759). The medallion is the emblem of the Freemasons.
1797 "Stanislaw II
Augustus Poniatowski, King of Poland," oil on canvas, oval, 38
7/8" x 30 3/4" (98.7 x 78 cm), Musée National du Château de
Versailles. Masters in Art, 1905; Antiques, Jan 1968, p. 113
(b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 115 (b&w); The Sweetness of Life
(b&w); Baillio (2016), p. 185 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth
Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 45 (color). {"2 The King of Poland,
Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski. Two large half-length paintings, one in the
costume of Henri IV, the other in a velvet coat which I have
kept."} See the Baillio (1982) description.
1797 "Elżbieta
'Izabella' Maria Filipina Mniszech," oil on canvas, 19" x 17
3/8," signed at left: Petersbourg Vigée Lebrun 1797. National
Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Museum
website; Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles
(2016), p. 90 (color) {"1 His great niece, playing with a little
dog."} {"The niece of the King of Poland, Mme Menicheck …
commissioned me to paint the portrait of her daughter, then still a very young
child, and I pictured her playing with her dog."; Footnote 2: "This
person later became Princess Radziwill."- Chap. XXII}. Elżbieta
Mniszech (5 August 1790-13 September 1852) was the daughter of Count
Michał Jerzy Wandalin Mniszech (1742–14 March 1806) and his wife, Urszula
Mniszech, née Zamoyska (1750 - 1806), the niece of the king. The sitter was
married on 3 February 1807 to Prince Dominik Hieronim Radziwiłł (4
August 1786-11 November 1813). The couple had a son, Alexander Dominik Radziwiłł
(29 February 1808-10 October 1859). The couple divorced in 1809, and in 1814,
the sitter married Filip Auguste Gabriel de Canon, marquis de Ville-sur-Illon,
baron de Canon, who in 1816, received the Polish name and title of count Dembliński
from Emperor Alexander I of Russia (acting as Ruler of Poland). In 1776,
VLB had painted the sitter's mother, who at the time was Countess Urszula
Potocka (prior to her marriage to Mniszech). [Note that a completely
different portrait, claiming the same identity, oil on canvas, 50 1/4"
x 38" is not the work of VLB, but rather is considered the work of
Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (1734-1781).] [Per Tomasz F. de Rosset, the dog was
named Kiopek, and actually belonged to the king. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth
Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 83].
1795-1801? "Princess Praskovia Andreevna
Galitzine, née Countess Shuvalova," large bust, unlocated. No description
or reproductions known. {"1 Princess Michel Galitzin, large
half-length."} {"...Princess Michel Galitzin … had made several trips
to Paris and had married one of her daughters to a French man, M. le Comte de
Caumont..." - Chap. XVIII} Countess Praskovia Andreevna Shuvalova
(Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris) was a daughter of Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov
(Андрей
Петрович
Шувалов) (23 June 1743 - 24 April
1789) and Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Saltykova (Екатерина
Петровна
Салтыкова) (2 October
1743 - 13 October 1816, Rome). The sitter was married in 1787 to Prince Mikhail
Andreyevich Golitzyn (Михаил
Андреевич
Голицын) (28 January 1765 - 31 August
1812). VLB painted a number of her relatives: (1) her sister, Countess (and
later Princess) Alexandra Andreevna Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova (8
December 1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna); (2) her brother, Count Pavel
Andreyevich Shuvalov (Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (3) her cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess
Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (4) her cousin, Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov,
née Countess Saltykova (1777-1824); (5) her cousin, Natalia Zakharovna
Kolychёva, née Khitrovo (1774-1803); (6) her cousin, Ivan Ivanovich
Shuvalov (Иван Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg); (7) her uncle, Field Marshal Count Ivan
Petrovich Saltykov (Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805); (8) her sister-in-law, Princess Anna Aleksandrovna Golitsyna,
née Princess Bagration Gruzinskaya, (by her first marriage, de Litzine)
(1763-1842); and (9) her brother-in-law, Count Franz Josef Karl Johann Nepomuk
Quirin von Dietrichstein Proskau-Leslie, later Prince (28 April 1767 - 8 July
1854).
1797-1801 "Countess (later Princess)
Alexandra Andreevna Dietrichstein, née Shouvalov," unlocated. {"2 Countess
Dietricten, and her husband the Count."} Countess (later Princess)
Aleksandra Andreevna Shuvalova (8 December 1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna) was
a daughter of Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov
(Андрей
Петрович Шувалов)
(23 June 1743 - 24 April 1789) and Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Saltykova
(Екатерина
Петровна Салтыкова)
(2 October 1743 - 13 October 1816, Rome). The sitter was married 10 July 1797
to Count (later Prince) Franz Josef Karl Johann Nepomuk Quirin von
Dietrichstein Proskau-Leslie (28 April 1767 - 8 July 1854). The marriage proved
very unhappy, though, and the marriage ended in 1804. They had one child,
Joseph Franz, Prince of Dietrichstein (28 March 1798 – 10 July 1858, Friedland,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). [Identified by Angela Demutskiy.] Lada
Nikolenko, "Russian Portraits of Madame Vigée Le Brun," Gazette
des Beaux Arts, July-August 1967, cites Baron N. Wrangell, Russian Woman
in Engravings and Lithographs, 1911, that mentions under the number 179 an
engraving after a portrait of Countess Shouvalov-Diedrichstein, full-length,
seated on a divan, her left arm posed on its back. The name of the artist is
not given, so it is not certain whether the portrait was by VLB or not. This
appears to be the engraving
cited by Wrangell, with a detail
of the portrait prepared by Vincenzo Camuccini. VLB's first painted this
sitter before her marriage, above, and painted her a third time in London.
"Unidentified sitter," oil on canvas, oval, 64 x 53.5
cm, signed and dated right of center: "L. E. Vigée Le Brun 1800.
Appraised on June 29, 2005, by Dr. Stephanie Hauschild, author of Monographie
über die Porträts von Louise Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, as "a beautiful
and a typical portrait from Vigée Le Brun." Dr. Hauschild dates it from
the time of VLB’s stay in Russia around 1800: "a whole row of portraits of
Russian aristocrats are included in the artist’s work list for this time in St.
Petersburgh, and this could be one of them." She believes the sitter may
be an actor and compares the painting with "the very similar portrait of
the countess Golovin in the Barber Institute in Birmingham." She writes
that the "style, light, organization, the rendition of the background and
the coloring are completely typically for Vigée Le Brun in her paintings made
in Russia." University Professor Dr. Helmut Boersch Boersch-Supan is also
convinced that it can fit into the Vigée Le Brun paintings in the Russian period
(letter of July 9, 2005). [Spotted on BeyArs.com website by Lucia Cardellini,
for an auction by Dorotheum GmbH & Co KG, of Vienna, on October 5, 2005.]
The masculine features have some believing the sitter is a man. The long hair,
the ribbon in the hair, and the manner of dress convince Angela Demutskiy that
the sitter is a woman. Angela thinks the sitter is the above-listed Countess
Alexandra Andreevna Dietrichstein, née Shouvalov, based on similarities to
other portraits. While this painting does not match the engraving of Countess
Dietrichstein seated on a divan discussed by Wrangell, he did not explicitly
state that engraving was prepared after a painting by VLB.
1797-1801 "Count
Dietrichstein" Unlocated. {"2 Countess Dietricten, and her
husband the Count."} {"At that time I was painting the portrait
of Count Diedrestein ..." - Chap. XX} Count (later Prince) Franz
Josef Karl Johann Nepomuk Quirin von Dietrichstein Proskau-Leslie (28 April
1767 - 8 July 1854), the son of Prince Johann Baptist Karl Dietrichstein
(1728-1808) and Countess Marie Christine Thun (1738-1788). He married 10 July
1797 to Countess Aleksandra Andreevna Shuvalova. The marriage
proved very unhappy, though, and the marriage ended in 1804. They had one
child, Joseph Franz, Prince of Dietrichstein (28 March 1798 – 10 July 1858,
Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). [Identified by Angela
Demutskiy.] VLB had painted his sister, Countess Therese Kinsky, in Vienna.
ca. 1797 "Princess Anna
Alexandrovna Golitsyna, née Princess Gruzinsky. By her first marriage Mme. de
Litzine," oil on canvas, 53 1/2" x 39 1/2" (135.9 x 100.3
cm), Baltimore Museum of Art; museum slide; Baillio (1982), p.
117 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 285 (color); Baillio (2016), p.
193 (color). {"1 Princess Bauris Galitzin, almost full-length, finishing
at mid-calf."} Anna Alexandrovna Golitsyna (1763-1842), a daughter of
the Tsarevitch of Georgia, had been widowed in 1789 from Alexander
Alexandrovich Litsyn. In 1790, she married Prince Boris Andreivitch Golitsyn
with whom she had eight children. See the Baillio (1982) description. A study,
black and white chalk, stumping, on buff paper, the corners cut in an arched
shape, watermark armorial device, 11 1/8" x 9 1/4" (28.2 x 23.4 cm),
inscribed on column at left: a.E.V. Lebrun, was sold at Christie's
Sale 11935 - Old Master & British Drawings (27 Jan. 2016).
1798 "Charles, the 2nd Earl
of Talbot," oil on canvas, 33" x 26." Photo from Witt
Library. {"1 Milord Talbot. Bust."} Lived 1777-1849.
"Countess Zofia Zamoiska, dancing with a
tamborine," unlocated. {"1 Princess Sapieha just past the knee,
dancing with a tambourine."} Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav Wasylewski, Portrety
Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun (1927) recognized that VLB had erred in the
Vienna listing "1 Countess Zamoiska, dancing with a shawl," as the
model for that painting was actually Princess Pélagie Roza Potocka
Sapieha-Rozanski. They believed that she reversed the sitters, and that the
sitter for this Russian painting was: Zofia Zamoyska, née Czartoryski (15
October 1778, Warsaw - 27 February 1837, Firenze, Italy). A daughter of Adam
Kazimierz Joachim Ambrose Marek Czartoryski (1 December 1734, Gdańsk,
Poland - 20 March 1823, Sieniawa, Poland) and his wife Izabela Elżbieta
Dorota Flemming (3 March 1746, Warsaw, Poland - 17 June 1835, Sieniawa,
Poland). The sitter was married to Stanisław Kostka Franciszek Zamoyski
(13 January 1775, Warsaw - 2 April 1856, Vienna). The couple had 11 children. [Others
suggest that this Russian listing was correct, representing yet another
portrait of Princess Sapieha.]
1797 "Ecaterina
Michailovna Potemkine, later Countess Ribeaupierre," oil on canvas,
oval, 25 5/8" x 20 7/8" (65 x 53 cm), Private collection in Poland.
{"1 The daughter of Princess Youssoupoff."} [After her return to
Paris, VLB lists a portrait of "The Young Princess Potemski, three-quarter
length." Nikolenko believes that the portrait was started in Russia, and
finished in Paris.] For comparison, see a portrait
ca. 1810 by Giovanni Battista Lampi, provided by Jana Talkenberg. Lived
1788-1829, she was the daughter of Tatiana Vassilievna Engelhardt. (Her mother,
Tatiana, first married Prince Michail Potemkin and later married Prince
Youssoupoff, so the reference to “the daughter of Princess Youssoupoff” and
“the Young Princess Potemski” could indeed both refer to Ecaterina.) [Image
provided by Bartosz Roszak.]
1797 "Serene Princess
Ecaterina Iljinishna Golenishcheva-Kutuzova, née Bibikov," oil on
canvas, 32 1/4" x 26 3/4" (82 x 68 cm), signed and dated lower left: L.
E. Vigée Le Brun / St Petersbourg 1797. Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Beaux
Arts, 9:4, Nov 1931; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 100
(b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 286 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 188
(color). {"1 Mme Koutousoff, half-length."} Ekaterina Ilyinichna
Bibikova (5 November 1754, St. Petersburg – 23 July 1824, St. Petersburg) was a
daughter of Lieutenant General Ilya Alexandrovich Bibikov and Varvara
Nikitichna Shishkova. On 27 April 1778, she married the famous field-marshal,
Colonel Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (16 September [O.S. 5
September] 1745, St. Petersburg – 28 April [O.S. 16 April] 1813,
Bolesławiec, Poland), who served as a military leader and diplomat under
rulers Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. In recognition of pushing the
French out of Russia following Napoleon's invasion, he was awarded the title of
Prince of Smolensk. Paul I awarded Ecaterina the Order of Saint Catherine on
the day of his coronation in 1797, and Alexander I named her a lady-in-waiting.
VLB also painted her daughter, Daria Michailovna Opotchinine, below.
Parke-Bernet also sold a painting in 1962 that was considered a VLB portrait of
another daughter, Countess Prascovie Michailovna Tolstoy.
1801 "Daria Mikhailovna
Opochinin, née Golenischev-Kutuzov," oval, 27" x 21," signed
and dated lower right: L.E. Vigée / Le Brun / a petersbourg / 1801.
Private Collection. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 109
(b&w). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} Daria Mikhailovna
Golenischev-Kutuzov (22 December 1778-5 April 1854), a daughter of the famous
Field-Marshal; VLB also painted her mother, Serene Princess Ekaterina
Il’inichna Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky, and her sister, Countess Prascovie
Michailovna Tolstoy. [Color image by Olivier Blanc.]
1801? "Countess Prascovie Michailovna
Tolstoy, née Princess Golenichev-Koutouzov," oval, 27 3/4" x
23," white dress, blue ribbon, green mantle, landscape background. Sold by
Parke-Bernet 4/18/1962, N.Y. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} Prascovie
Michailovna Golenichev-Kutuzov (11 January 1775-1 January 1844), a daughter of
the famous Field-Marshal; VLB also painted her mother, Serene Princess
Ecaterina Iljinishna Koutousov-Smolenskya, and her sister, Daria Michailovna Opotchinine.
1800 "Lady of St.
Petersburg," oil on canvas, 99.5 x 80 cm, signed at right center: Vigée
Lebrun 1800. [Image provided by Olivier Blanc.]
"Baron Alexander
Sergeevich Stroganov," oval, unlocated. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p. 117 (b&w). {"1 Le Baron de Stroganoff."} Lived
1771-1815.
1795-1800 "Alexandra Grigorievna
Kositzky," waist length, 26 1/4" x 21", unlocated. No
description or reproduction known. {"1 Mlle Kasisky, sister of
Princess Belloseki."} Lived 1772-1850, a daughter of Gregory
Vasilievitch Kozitzky, Catherine II’s Secretary of State, and Catherine
Ivanovna Miasnikova. Around 1798 she married Jean Charles François, Count Lava
(b. 1761 in Marseilles, d. 1846.) The sitter became an important figure in St.
Petersburg society. Their daughter, Catherina, married Sergei Trubetskoy, a
Decembrist, and she followed him into exile in Siberia in 1826. [Information
courtesy of Olga Baird and Angela Demutskiy.]
1798 "Princess Anna
Grigorievna Belosselsky-Belozersky, née Kozitzky," oil on canvas, 26
3/4" x 30 3/4," signed and dated, National Museum of Women in the
Arts, Washington, D.C. Museum postcard. [VLB doesn’t list this painting,
but does list that of the Princess’ sister, listed above. Perhaps she painted
both, or perhaps the sitter of this painting is actually Mlle Kasisky?] Lived
1773-1846, a daughter of Gregory Vasilievitch Kozitzky, Catherine II’s
Secretary of State, and Catherine Ivanovna Miasnikova. Around 1802 she married
the widower Prince Aleksandr Mikhailovich Beloselskiy- Belozerskiy (1752-1809).
[Information courtesy of Angela Demutskiy.]
1794 "Princess
Alexandra Petrovna Galitzine, née Protassov, with her son" oil on
canvas, 54 1/4" x 46" (137 x 101 cm) signed and dated at lower right:
L. E. Vigée Le Brun Vienne 1794, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 107 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p.
267 (color). {"1 Princess Alexandre Galitzin."} Princess
Aleksandra Petrovna Golitsyna née Protasova, later Countess (20 March 1774-16
October 1842), the daughter of a senator, lieutenant-general Pyotr Stepanovich
Protasov (1730-1794) and Aleksandra Anna Ivanovna Protasova née Protasova (1750-1782).
The sitter was married in 1791 to master of the horse, privy councilor Prince
Alexei Andreevich Golitsyn (1767-1800). Gazette des Beaux Arts identified
the child as her nephew, while Portraits Russes vol. 2, fig 24,
identifies the child as her son. Elena Sharnova pointed out that the signature
indicates the painting was prepared in Vienna, and not in St. Petersburg, as
VLB has listed. With a 1794 date, the son would have been her eldest, Prince
Pyotr Alekseevich Golitsyn (27 January 1792-1842).
1795-1801 "Natalia
Zaharovna Kolychev, née Khitrovo," Antiques, Jan 1953, p. 6.
{"1 Mme Kalitcheff."} [VLB only lists one portrait for this sitter,
but see the next listing.] Natalia Zakharovna Kolychёva, née Khitrovo
(1774-1803), was a daughter of State Counsellor Zahara Alekseevicha Khitrovo
(Захар
Алексеевич
Хитрово) (1734? or 1746? - 30
November 1798) and Aleksandra Nikolaevna Khitrovo, née Maslov
(Александра
Николаевна
Хитрово,
урожденная
Маслова) (28 March 1754 - 5 January
1829). In 1799, the sitter married Vice-Chancellor Stepan Akekseevich Kolychev (Степан
Алеексеевич
Колычев) (15 July 1746 - 14 May
1805). She was a maid of honor to Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
(Мари́я
Фёдоровна). VLB
painted a number of her relatives: (1) her cousin, Countess Aleksandra
Andreevna von Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova, later Princess (8 December
1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna); (2) her cousin, Princess Praskovya Andreevna
Golitzyna, née Countess Shuvalova
(Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (3) her cousin, Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov
(Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823); (4) her cousin, Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov, née Countess Saltykova
(1777-1824); (5) her cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess
Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (6) her cousin, Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov
(Иван
Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg); and (7) her cousin, Field Marshal Count Ivan
Petrovich Saltykov (Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805).
1795-1801? "Natalia
Zaharovna Koltchev, née Khitrovo," Private Collection, U.S.A. Gazette
des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 108 (b&w). {"1 Mme
Kalitcheff."} [VLB only lists one portrait for Mme Kalitcheff (see
previous listing), but this is clearly the same sitter in a different pose.]
1798 "Count Felix
Potocki, " {"1 Count Potocki."} 68 x 57 cm, signed and
dated: E. L. Vigée-Lebrun a Petersbourg 1798. Portrety Polskie
Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav Wasylewski, 1927.
Szczesny (Felix) Potocki (1776-1810), the son of Count Stanislaw Feliks
Szczesny Potocki and Józefina Amalia Mniszech. He was the brother of Pélagie
Roza Potocka, later Princess Sapieha. [Information and image from Julia
Slupska.]
1797 "Count
Giulio (Youliy Pompeevich) Litta," oil on canvas, 37" x 28
3/4" (94 x 73 cm), signed. Civica Galleria d'Arte Modena, Milan. Baillio
(2015), p. 270 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 178 (color). {"1
Count Litta."} Lived 1763-1839. Born in Italy, his father was a
general in the Austrian Army and his mother came from an old Italian noble
family called Visconti. He became a knight of the Maltese Order at the age of
17, and was sent to Russia in 1789. For his service in the war against Sweden
he was awarded the rank of a counter-admiral and appointed to the order of St.
George. He became a Russian citizen in 1798 and served in the government. He
was the second husband of another VLB sitter, Ekaterina Skavronskaia née
Engelhardt. [Information from Jana Talkenberg.] VLB first painted him in
Naples in 1790.
{"1 Princess Viaminski."}
1800 "Prince Ivan
Ivanovich Bariatinsky," oil on canvas, 30 1/2" x 26 3/4"
(77.5 x 68 cm), signed and dated lower right: L. E. Vigee Le Brun a
Petersbourg. 1800. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p. 116 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 292 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 206 (color). {"1 The young Prince Bariatinski. Large
half-length."} {"...I was painting the portrait of the young Prince
Bariatinski, and as I had begged him not to wear powder, he had agreed not to
do so."-Chap. XXI} Born in 1772 (others say 1767), a son of Prince Ivan
Sergeevich Bariatinsky ("le beau Russe," Ambassador to the Court of
Louis XVI) and his wife, Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Golshtein-Bek. The sitter
was a Russian minister in Munich. His first wife was Frances Dutton, daughter
of the first Baron Sherborne; she died in childbirth in 1807. In 1813, he
remarried, to Countess Maria Feodorovna von Keller (1792-1858), daughter of the
Prussian ambassador in Vienna. VLB painted him again in London, listed below.
He died in 1825. [The exhibition catalogue Recollection of Italy,
Testimony, by Grigorij Goldovskij, 2003, Marble Palace, St. Petersburg,
reports a variant is with Bariatinsky descendants in the Chigi collection at
Castellfusano, in Rome, but Anna Sulimova in Baillio (2016) considers
this is probably an anonymous copy. Another copy is in a private collection in
New York.]
1797 "Prince Alexander
Borissovich Kourakin," oil on canvas, 37 3/4" x 30" (96 x 76
cm). Hermitage. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 115 (b&w);
color image from museum website. {"1 Prince Alexander Kourakin, two
half-length."} Nikolenko says that VLB painted him twice, and a second image
was located in the Witt Library. Lived 1752-1818, Vice Chancellor of Paul I;
Ambassador of the Court of Vienna under Alexander I.
1800 "Self portrait,"
oil on canvas, 30 7/8" x 26 3/4" (78.5 x 68 cm), signed and dated
lower left: Vigee Le Brun a Petersbourg 1800. Hermitage. Paintings in
the Hermitage by Colin Eisler; Stroganoff: The Palace and Collections of
a Russian Noble Family, p. 144; Baillio (2015), p. 90 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 205 (color). {"1 Self-portrait down to the knee, in black,
holding my palette, painted for the Saint Petersburg Academy."} {"I
began my self portrait for the Academy of Saint Petersburg at once and I drew
myself painting, palette in hand." - Chap. XXIII} VLB is shown painting
Maria Fyodorovna, wife of Paul I, wearing the diamond-studded imperial crown.
ca. 1795 "Julie Le Brun Playing
a Guitar," oil on canvas, 32 5/8" x 39 1/2," one version in
Fondation Tatiana Zuboff, Geneva; another version had been at the Kimbell Art
Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas. The Sweetness of Life (b&w). {"...I
liked to drape my models with large scarves, interlacing them around the body
and through the arms... Examples of this can be seen in several of the
portraits I painted whilst in Russia; in particular, one of my daughter playing
the guitar." - Letter IV} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as
exhibited at the Salon of 1798.]
1796 "Catherine
II, Empress of Russia," pastel, bust-length, unlocated; Neil Jeffares,
Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"The
Sunday before her death … the Empress [said] … ‘I shall give you my first
sitting this evening at eight o’clock.’ The following Thursday … she
expired." - Chap. XX} The pastel of Catherine II was seen in VLB’s apartment
around 1830 by Mme Virginie Ancelot, and it was inventoried upon VLB’s death. A
lithograph
was prepared by Delaunois, and an etching
by Grevedon. [Image provided by Jana Talkenberg.] Catherine II, Empress of
Russia, née Princess Sophia Auguste Fredericka von Anhalt-Zerbst (2 May [O.S.
21 April] 1729, Stettin (now Poland) – 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1796,
Saint Petersberg), the eldest daughter of Prince Christian August Anhalt-Zerbst
(29 November 1690, Dornburg – 16 March 1747, Zerbst) and Princess Johanna
Elisabeth von Holstein-Gottorp (24 October 1712, Gottorp – 30 May 1760, Paris).
On 21 August 1745 in St. Petersburg, she married Karl Peter Ulrich, later Peter
III Fyodorovich (Пётр III
Фëдорович) (21 February 1728,
Kiel – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762, Ropsha). VLB painted a number of her
relatives: (1) her granddaughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (9 August
1783, Saint Petersburg – 16 March 1801, Vienna); (2) her granddaughter, Grand
Duchess Elena Pavlovna (24 December 1784, Saint Petersburg – 24 September
1803, Schwerin); (3) her grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later
Emperor Alexander I
(Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog);
(4) her granddaughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alekseevna née Princess
Louise Maria Auguste von Baden, later Empress (24 January [O.S. 13 January]
1779, Karlsruhe – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826, Belev, Tula Province); and (5) her
daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
(Мари́я
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise, Duchess von Württemberg, later Empress
(25 October 1759, Stettin (Prussia, now Poland) – 5 November 1828, Pavlovsk).
1796-97 "Princess
Ecaterina Feodorovna Dolgorouky, née Princess Bariatinsky," oil on
canvas, 54 1/2" x 39 1/2," signed lower left: Vigée Le Brun a
petersbourg. Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art, Japan. Grand Duke Nicolas
Michailovich, Les Portraits Russes; Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p. 106 (b&w); Connoisseur, 168:36, May 1968; Apollo,
101:426, Jun 1975 (b&w); Baillio (1982), p. 119 (b&w). {"I
was struck speechless by the beauty of Princess Dolgorouky" - Chap. XVI;
"...as she had seen my Sybil and was most enthusiastic, she asked me to
paint her in the same style..." - Chap. XVIII} Lived 1769-1849, the
daughter of Prince Theodore Sergueivitch Bariatinsky (one of the assassins of
Peter III, and Grand-Marshal of the Russian court under Catherine II) and
Princess Maria Vassilievna Khovansky. In 1786, she married Lieutenant-General
Prince Basil Vassilievitch Dolgorouky (1752-1812), by whom she had five
children. [Biographical information published by Baillio.] See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1800 "Varvara Nikolaevna
Ladomirsky, later Narychkin," oil on canvas, 25" x 21 3/4"
(63.5 x 55.2 cm), signed & dated lower left: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun /
1800 / a Moscou. Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio. Art News, 45:sec 2, p
449, Dec 1946; L’Oeil, 102:45, Jun 1963; Connoisseur, 154:67, Sep
1963; Baillio (1982), p. 122 (b&w); Women Artists; The
Sweetness of Life (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 291 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 209 (color). {"Countess Stroganoff, wife of my old and dear
friend … called her daughter, a very pretty young woman, and asked me to paint
her in exchange for rent..."- Chap. XXIV} Lived 1785-1840. Her parents
were Ecaterina Petrovna Stroganoff, née Princess Troubetskoy (1744-1815) [the
estranged wife of Count Alekander Sergeevich Stroganoff (VLB painted him ca.
1768-72)] and her lover, Ivan Nikolaevich Rimsky-Korsakoff. The four children
of this union were granted the name of an extinct noble Polish family,
Ladomirsky. See the Baillio (1982) description.
[While Baillio (1982) and Baillio (2016) give her the patronymic
Ivanovna, she apparently used Nikolaevna, and her brother used Nikolaevich. Her
cemetery inscription also uses the Nikolaevna patronymic, per Peterburgskii
Nekropol’ 3:211.]
{"The island [of Zelaguin] offered such
picturesque views that I drew a great many of them..." - Chap. XIX}
1800 "Posthumous
Portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette," oil on panel, 12 1/2" x 10
1/4" (31.8 x 26.1 cm), signed & dated lower right: L. E. Vigée Le
Brun, inscribed on the rear: 8eme Juillet 1800-. L’Oeil,
412:30, Nov 1989; Christie's Sale 11932-Revolution (13 April 2016).
{"I set about painting a portrait of the Queen [Marie Antoinette] from
memory and begged [the Comte de Cossé] to give it to [the Queen’s daughter,]
Mme the Duchesse d’Angoulême ..." - Chap. XIX}
1800 "Empress Maria
Feodorovna, consort of Paul I," oil on canvas, 114" x 82",
Hermitage. {"I painted a full length portrait of her wearing her court
costume and a diamond coronet... I placed the Empress in front of a large
crimson velvet curtain..."- Chap. XXII} {"... I hurried to finish the
full length portrait of the Empress Maria, as well as several smaller paintings
of her, and I left for Moscow on 15 October 1800."- Chap. XXIII} Maria
Feodorovna (Мари́я
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise, Duchess von Württemberg, later Empress
(25 October 1759, Stettin (Prussia, now Poland) – 5 November 1828, Pavlovsk).
Her parents were Friedrich Eugen, Duke of Württemberg (21 January 1732,
Stuttgart – 23 December 1797, Hohenheim) and Friederike Sophia Dorothea of
Brandenburg-Schwedt (18 December 1736, Schwedt – 9 March 1798, Stuttgart). On 7
October 1776, she married Paul I ( Па́вел I
Петро́вич) (1 October
[O.S. 20 September] 1754, St. Petersburg – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801, St.
Petersburg). The sitter wears the insignia of the orders of St Andrew and St
Catherine and a diamond crown." A preparatory
oil sketch, oil on canvas, 13 x 9 1/2" (33 x 24 cm), published in Baillio
(2015), p. 24 (color) and Baillio (2016), p. 17 (color), has
different props than the final version, including a marble bust of the sitter's
husband. VLB painted many of her relatives: (1) her mother-in-law, Catherine
II, Empress of Russia, née Princess Sophia Auguste Fredericka von Anhalt-Zerbst
(2 May [O.S. 21 April] 1729, Stettin (now Poland) – 17 November [O.S. 6
November] 1796, Saint Petersburg); (2) her son, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich,
later Emperor Alexander I
(Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog);
(3) her daughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (9 August 1783, Saint
Petersburg – 16 March 1801, Vienna); (4) her daughter, Grand Duchess Elena
Pavlovna (24 December 1784, Saint Petersburg – 24 September 1803,
Schwerin); (5) her daughter-in-law, Duchess Elizaveta Alekseevna née Princess
Louise Maria Auguste von Baden, later Empress (24 January [O.S. 13 January]
1779, Karlsruhe – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826, Belev, Tula Province; and (6) her
daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna (Анна
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Juliane Henriette Ulrike von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld ( 23 September 1781, Coburg –
15 August 1860, Elfenau, near Bern, Switzerland).
1801 "Jeanne du Crest de Villeneuve, née
Brizé," unlocated. {"...the good and charming Mme Ducrest de
Villeneuve, whom I was very pleased to meet once more in Moscow … was so pretty
that I could not wait to paint her." - Chap. XXIV.} Jeanne Brizé (1775,
Janzé - 4 March 1836, Rennes), was married to Pierre François Urbain du Crest
de Villeneuve (2 November 1771, Le Theil-de-Bretagne - 9 February 1828,
Rennes), who had a military career before entering into civil administration.
(Pierre's younger brother was the famous admiral, Alexandre Louis du Crest de
Villeneuve (7 March 1777, Le Theil-de-Bretagne - 22 March 1852, Paris)). The
couple had two children: (1) Emile-René du Crest de Villeneuve (1795-1867,
Rennes), an author whose married Ovide Euphémie Jeanne Marie Taschet de
Barneval; (2) Adéle Caroline du Crest de Villeneuve (1799-?), who married
Sebastien Claude Pierre Hunaut (1793-?). The sitter's son and his wife had a
son, Emile-Alexandre-Louis du Crest de Villeneuve (22 November 1838, Rennes -
1902), a soldier, civil service employee, and author, married in 1868 to
Armande Maufras du Chalellier, who lived in the mansion Porsmoro (today a
retirement home) in Pont-L'abbé-Lambjur. [Sources: René Pocard du Cosquer
de Kerviler & Louis Marie Chauffier, Répertoire général de
bio-bibliographie bretonne (vols. 6 and 11); Henri Jouve, Dictionnaire
biographique d'Ille et Villaine; http://gw.geneanet.org/jpk2?lang=fr&m=N&v=DUCREST%20DE%20VILLENEUVE
.]
1801 “Alexander I,” pastel, Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"...the Emperor
[Alexander] … commissioned me to paint two portraits of himself, one half
length and one full length on horseback... Feeling that I was not well enough
to begin the full length portrait, I began on the pastels of the Emperor
and Empress; later I thought I might use these paintings to produce larger
portraits in Dresden or in Berlin..." - Chap. XXV; "I made several
large bust portraits of Alexander in Dresden from these pastels..."
- Footnote 2, Chap. XXV; In Berlin: "...I would not allow [the German
customs’ officials] to unroll my Sibyl, nor the studies I had made of
the Emperor and the Empress of Russia" - Chap. XXVI} [In the Dresden
section, VLB lists portraits of the Emperor (but not the Empress), prepared
from these studies. We have a pair of oil paintings of the Emperor and Empress,
which I am assigning to Dresden; we don’t have any images of the pastels.
Angela has notes from a book on Catherine the Great that VLB painted Alexander
and Elisaveta as Cupid and Psyche, but it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t
have mentioned that in her list.] Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later
Emperor Alexander I
(Александр
Павлович) (23 December [O.S. 12
December] 1777, St. Petersburg - 1 December [O.S. 19 November] 1825, Taganrog).
He was a son of Paul I ( Па́вел I
Петро́вич) (1 October
[O.S. 20 September] 1754, St. Petersburg – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801, St.
Petersburg) and Maria Feodorovna (Мари́я
Фёдоровна), née Sophie
Dorothea of Württemberg (25 October 1759, Stettin – 5 November 1828, St. Petersburg).
VLB painted a number of his relatives: (1) his grandmother, Catherine II,
Empress of Russia, née Princess Sophia Auguste Fredericka von Anhalt-Zerbst (2
May [O.S. 21 April] 1729, Stettin (now Poland) – 17 November [O.S. 6 November]
1796, Saint Petersburg); (2) his sister, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (9
August 1783, Saint Petersburg – 16 March 1801, Vienna); (3) his sister, Grand
Duchess Elena Pavlovna (24 December 1784, Saint Petersburg – 24 September
1803, Schwerin); and (4) his sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna
(Анна
Фёдоровна), née Princess
Juliane Henriette Ulrike von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld ( 23 September 1781, Coburg –
15 August 1860, Elfenau, near Bern, Switzerland).
1795-1801 "Vera Petrovna
Vassiltchikov, née Protassov," unlocated. Les Portraits Russes,
by Grand Duke Nicolas Michailovich, 1905, vol. 3, fig. 204. {Not listed or
mentioned by VLB} Lived 1780-1814.
ca. 1799 "Julie Le Brun as
Flora,"oil on canvas, 51" x 38 1/2" (130.5 x 98 cm), Museum
of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida. Baillio (1982), p. 120 (b&w);
Apollo, 117:516, Jun 1983 (b&w); museum postcard; Baillio
(2016), p. 202 (color). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1799 "Princess Evdokia
Ivanovna Golitsyna, née Izmailov (as Flora)," oil on canvas, 54
1/8" x 39 1/8" (137.5 x 99.4 cm), signed and dated. Utah Museum of
Fine Arts. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 111 (b&w); museum
website (color); Baillio (2016), p. 203 (color). {Not listed or
mentioned by VLB.} Lived 1780-1850. The sister of Countess Irina Ivanovna
Vorontzov, whom VLB also painted.
ca. 1797-1800 "Ivan
Ivanovitch Shuvalov," oil on canvas, oval, 33 x 24" (83.8 x 61
cm), North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Antiques, Jan 1968, p. 109
(b&w); Connoisseur, 169:201, Nov 1968; Baillio (1982), p. 27
(color); Gazette des Beaux Arts, 6:101:supp 37, Mar 1983 (b&w); museum
slide; Baillio (2016), p. 196 (color). Ivan Ivanovitch Shuvalov
(Иван
Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg) was a son of Ivan "Menshoi"
Maksimovich Shuvalov (d. 1741, Moscow) and Tatiana Rodionovna-Khitrovo (d. 6
April 1756, Moscow). He was not a count, though his cousins Pyotr Ivanovich
Shuvalov and Aleksandr Ivanovich Shuvalov were; they assisted Elisabeth I of
Russia's ascent to the throne, and introduced Ivan to her. She became his last
favorite, and as Minister of Education, founded Moscow University and the
Russian Academy of Art. The only portrait of Ivan Chouvaloff that VLB cites
was one for 1775, which was unlocated until recently. Everyone seemed to accept
the 1775 date for this portrait, until Baillio cleverly noted that the sitter
wears insignia he was granted in 1782! Baillio dates this portrait to the late
1790s, and considers it to have been prepared posthumously. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1795-1801? "Princess
Praskovia Yourievna Gagarine, née Princess Troubezkoy," 26 1/4" x
23," unlocated. Grand Duke Nicolas Michailovich, Les Portraits Russes;
Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 101 (b&w). {Not listed or
mentioned by VLB} Lived 1762-1848, the daughter of Princess Daria
Troubetzkoy (whose miniature drawing Nikolenko attributed to VLB.)
1801 "Prince Nikolai
Sergeyevich Gagarine," unlocated. Gazette des Beaux Arts,
Jul/Aug 1967, p. 117 (b&w). [Not listed or mentioned by VLB. ] Prince
Nikolai Sergeyevich Gagarin (1784-1842), the eldest son of Prince Sergei
Sergeyevich Gagarin (1745-98) and Princess Varvara Nikolaevna Gagarina, née
Princess Galitzyna (1762-1802). Born in London and later made a gentleman of
the bedchamber in 1802. In 1816, he married Countess Maria Alekseevna
Bobrinkaya (1798-1835), granddaughter of Catherine II and Prince Gregory Orlov.
The sitter was murdered by his forest warden from the Rejnmana estate. [Angela
Demutskiy notes that the sitter was traditionally identified as the sitter's
younger brother, Prince Sergei Sergeyevich Gagarin (1795-1852), Director of the
Imperial Theatres. However, he would have only been 6 at the time of this
portrait, whereas Nikolai would have been 17.]
1797 "Count Fedor Gavrilovich
Golovkine," Signed and dated St. Petersburg, 1797. Belonged to Kiev
University in 1905. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Died 1823.
1795-1801? "Count Pavel
Andreyevich Shuvalov," unlocated. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Count
Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov (Павел
Андреевич
Шувалов) (21 May 1776 - 1 December
1823) was a son of Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov
(Андрей
Петрович
Шувалов) (23 June 1743 - 24 April
1789) and Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Saltykova (Екатерина
Петровна
Салтыкова) (2 October
1743 - 13 October 1816, Rome). The sitter was a general and a hero of the war
against Napoleon. In 1812, he married Princess Varvara Petrovna Shakhovskaya
(Варвара
Петровна
Шаховская) (1 February
1796 - 23 December 1870), but the marriage ended in divorce. VLB
painted a number of his relatives: (1) his sister, Countess (and later
Princess) Alexandra Andreevna Dietrichstein, née Countess Shuvalova (8 December
1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna); (2) his sister, Countess Praskovia Andreevna
Shuvalova (Прасковья
Андреевна
Шувалова) (19 December 1767 –
11 December 1828, Paris); (3) his cousin, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina,
née Princess Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819); (4) his cousin, Countess Anna Ivanova Orlov,
née Countess Saltykova (1777-1824); (5) his cousin, Natalia Zakharovna
Kolychёva, née Khitrovo (1774-1803); (6) his cousin, Ivan Ivanovich
Shuvalov (Иван Иванович
Шувалов) ( 1 November 1727, Moscow -
14 November 1797, St. Petersburg); (7) his uncle, Field Marshal Count Ivan
Petrovich Saltykov (Иван
Петрович
Салтыков) (28 June 1730 – 14
November 1805); and (8) his brother-in-law, Count Franz Josef Karl Johann
Nepomuk Quirin von Dietrichstein Proskau-Leslie, later Prince (28 April 1767 -
8 July 1854). Image located by Angela Demutskiy.
"Alexander Lvovich Narishkine," 28
1/4" x 21," unlocated. Copy was made by Remezov. [Not listed or
mentioned by VLB.] Lived 1760-1826.
"Lev Alexandrovitch Narishkine," oil on
canvas, 22 3/4" x 21," bust-length. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.]
Lived 1785-1846?
"Alexandra Alexandrovna Bibikov," 43" x 32
1/4," Private Collection. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p.
113 (b&w). [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] Timothy F. Boettger believes
that this attribution by Nikolenko is problematic, for neither of the two
ladies by this name would be the right age to match the sitter as shown. The
painting, oil on canvas, 42 7/8" x 32 1/4" (109 x 82.1 cm) was
formerly in the collection of Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, 9th Duke of Portland
(1897 – 1990), and was sold by Sotheby's in London on 26 October 2016 as by a
follower of VLB.
"Alexander Alexandrovich Bibikov,"
unlocated. Number 233 at Taurida Palace Exhibition; Baron Wrangell expressed
doubt that the sitter was Bibikov. [Not listed or mentioned by VLB. .] Lived
1765-1829; General, Ambassador, and later Senator.
1795-1801 "Princess Daria
Alexandrovna Troubetzkoy, née Countess Roumiantzeff," miniature dwg,
oval, Smithsonian Institute, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 99
(b&w). [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] [Baillio feels that Nikolenko made
several errors in attribution. This might be one such case.] Lived ca.
1732-1809.
1797 "Charlotte Ritt,"
Museo Nacional de Colombia. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 165
(b&w). The wife of the Russian artist, Augustin Ritt (1765-99). [Not
listed or mentioned by VLB.] [Attribution by Joseph Baillio.] Color image
located by Angela Demutskiy.
1797-98 "Charlotte Ritt," Private
Collection, Paris.
1798 "Princess Maria
Golyzin," oil on canvas, 43 3/4" x 36" (111.2 x 91.4 cm),
signed and dated (barely visible, lower right): L.E. Vigée / Le Brun / a
petersbourg / 1798. Illustrated London News, 14 Apr 1956, p.
307 (b&w) (where the sitter is identified as "Countess
Rasowmoffska"); Christie's Sale 11932-Revolution (13 April 2016).
Owned by the Rasowmovsky Collection, and long believed to be Countess
Rasowmovska (Maria Elisabeth Thun, who married Count André Kyrillowitsch
Razumovsky), who is listed as having been painted in Vienna. In Gazette des
Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 164 (b&w), Baillio pointed out that VLB’s
portrait of that Countess Rasowmovska is known by an engraving by Franz
Durmer, and he also discovered the almost invisible inscription that this
painting was done in St. Petersburg, and not in Vienna. Baillio at the time
believed that the sitter was Charlotte Ritt, based on the similarities to other
paintings and drawings of that sitter. However, he later withdrew that
identification, based upon a difference in the eye colors between the two
paintings. The sitter is now considered to be a second Countess Rasowmovska,
who was a sister-in-law of Maria Elisabeth Thun. According to Maria
Razumovska’s book, Die Razumovskys. Eine Familie am Zarenhof [The
Razumvoskys: A Family at the Imperial Court] (1988 Böhlau Publishing House,
Köln), the sitter is Princess Maria Grigorievna Golitsyna, née Princess
Viazemskaia (1772-1865), whose second husband was Count Lev Kirillovich
Razumovskii (1757-1818).
1801? "Sketchbook with 38 Portrait Drawings
of Women and Children of the Russian Court," graphite and red chalk on
paper, page size 7" x 4 3/8" (17.8 x 11.1 cm), National Museum of
Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. The sketches were likely made at St.
Petersburg social gatherings. Baillio now believes these may be the work of
VLB’s brother-in-law, Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Rivière. This sketchbook had
been lot 378 of the November 4-5, 1937 Paris estate sale of Louis Deglatigny, Rouen.
#1 - "Madame Chevalier" - Jenny Poirot was born in Lyon in 1767.
In 1798 she moved to Hambourg with her husband, and she became the first singer
at the Theater of Saint-Péterbourg. She soon became the mistress of Kutaïzoff,
a favorite of Paul I. After Paul’s murder she moved to Berlin, where she sang
in the opera. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
#2 - "Madame Weller"
#3 - "Madame Ritt" - Charlotte Ritt
#4 - "Mlle. Michel"
#5 - "Mlle. Ghesler"
#6 - "Les deux soeurs Bakoumin," (The two Bakoumin sisters)
#7 - "La Princesse Nathalia Kourakin," Artists'
Sketchbooks and Illustrated Diaries: Exploring the In/Visible (Nat’l Museum
of Women in the Arts, 2007). Princess Natalia Ivanovna Kourakin.
#8 - "Madame
Giuliani," Vigée Lebrun (2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN
9781785250729, p. 183 (color). Lucia Cardellini suggests this may have been Cecilia
Giuliana, née Bianchi, who had been active in London (1788), Milan (1790), and
Vienna (1791-96).
#9 - "Mlle. une telle," (A young woman)
#10 - "Mlle. une telle," (A young woman)
#11 - "Mlle. Elisabeth Mouronzoff"- should perhaps be Worontzoff?
#12 - "Mlle. Anne de Visevalotsky"
#13 - "Maria Alexievna Komekoff"
#14 - "Madame Bachiloff, neé Wolff"
#15 - "Madame Obeskoff"
#16 - "Madame
Osten," Artists' Sketchbooks and Illustrated Diaries: Exploring the
In/Visible (Nat’l Museum of Women in the Arts, 2007).
#17 - "Monsieur
de Solticoff"
#18 - "La Princesse Barbe Gallitzin," Artists' Sketchbooks
and Illustrated Diaries: Exploring the In/Visible (Nat’l Museum of Women in
the Arts, 2007). Varvara "Barbe" Vasilievna Golitsyna, née von
Engelhardt (1757-1815), married in 1779 to General Prince Sergey Fedorovich
Golitsyn (1749-1810). Pictured with one of her sons, either Prince Vladimir
Sergeyevich Golitsyn (1794-1861) or Prince Basil Sergeyevich Golitsyn
(1792-1856). [Identified by Angela Demutskiy.]
#19 - "Madame Ronafidina"
#20 - "Madame Mausonoff"
#21 - "Madame Balk"
#22 - "Princess
Catherine Chikovsky"
#23 - "Alexandrine Kourakin"
#24 - "Helene Kourakin"
#25 - "Mlle. Noisville, à present Madame Prescot"
#26 - "Madame Flitroff"
#27 - "Mlle. Nathalie Pouchkin"
#28 - "Nathalie Cherbatoff"
#29 - "Anne Cherbatoff"
#30 - "Mlle. Chenotieff"
#31 - "Princesse Navansky"
#32 - "Mlle. Sachinga de Mietlieff"
#33 - "La Signora Vicenza Benelli"
#34 - "Madame Hertz"
#35 - "Madame Flek"
#36 - "Mlle. Caroline Tischbein," Caroline Tischbein (1783-1843), was
a daughter of the German painter, Johann Friedrich August Tischbein (9 March
1750, Maastricht - 21 June 1812, Heidelberg) and his wife, Sophie Müller
(1762-1840). On 28 August 1806, she married in Heidelberg to Friedrich Wilken
(1783-1843), an illustrator in Heidelberg and Berlin. The sitter was likely
sketched while visiting her uncle, Ludwig Philipp Tischbein (1744 – 1806), who
lived and worked at the court of Catherine II. [Information from Angela
Demutskiy and Jana Talkenberg.]
#37 - "Mlle. Elisabeth Tischbein," Artists' Sketchbooks
and Illustrated Diaries: Exploring the In/Visible (Nat’l Museum of Women in
the Arts, 2007). Elisabeth "Betty" Tischbein (1787-1867), was a
daughter of the German painter, Johann Friedrich August Tischbein (9 March
1750, Maastricht - 21 June 1812, Heidelberg) and his wife, Sophie Müller (1762-1840).
She married Wilhelm Kunze, a director of the Leipzig Fire Insurance Company.
The sitter was likely sketched while visiting her uncle, Ludwig Philipp
Tischbein (1744 – 1806), who lived and worked at the court of Catherine II.
[Information from Angela Demutskiy and Jana Talkenberg.]
#38 - "Femme voilee tenant en main une jatte""
1795-1801 "Sketchbook of 36 drawings," 7
1/2" x 4 3/4," graphite with touches of red chalk, Private
collection. Baillio See the Baillio (1982) description.
The sketches were likely made at St. Petersburg social gatherings. Baillio now
believes these may be the work of VLB’s brother-in-law, Auguste Louis Jean
Baptiste Rivière. This sketchbook had been lot 379 of the November 4-5, 1937
Paris estate sale of Louis Deglatigny, Rouen.
#1 -
#2 -
#3 -
#4 -
#5 -
#6 -
#7 -
#8 -
#9 -
#10 -
#11 -
#12 -
#13 - "Charlotte
Ritt," Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 166 (b&w)
#14 -
#15 - "Signora
Viazzoli," Baillio (1982), p. 107 (b&w)
#16 -
#17 - "Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovin," Countess Varvara
Nikolaevna Golovina, née Princess Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна
Головина,
урожденная княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819)
#18 - "Count
Giulio Litta, Knight of Malta," Baillio (1982), p. 107
(b&w)
#19 - "Prince Alexander Borissovitch Kourakin," Lived 1752-1818,
Vice Chancellor of Paul I; Ambassador of the Court of Vienna under Alexander I.
VLB also prepared a painting of him ca. 1797, which is in the Hermitage.
#20 -
#21 -
#22 - "Countess Kinsky"
#23 -
#24 -
#25 - "Julie Le Brun"
#26 -
#27 -
#28 - "Princess Natalia Ivanovna Kourakin"
#29 -
#30 -
#31 - "Irina Ivanovna Worontzoff" [Irina Ivanovna Vorontzov, née
Izmailov]
#32 -
#33 -
#34 -
#35 -
#36-
1800? "Self portrait,"
graphite on blue paper, 8 5/16" x 6 15/16," inscribed and signed
lower left: pour souvenir de / Le Brun fecit. Pierpont Morgan Library,
N.Y. Baillio (1982), p. 123 (b&w); museum slide. [Dating is
tentative, and it is uncertain where VLB drew this.] See the Baillio (1982)
description.
ca. 1800 “Mme Bilibin,” oil
on canvas, 35" x 28 3/8" (89 x 72 cm), attributed to VLB “or
workshop,” signed L.E. Vigee LeBrun in the arm of the couch.{Not listed
or mentioned by VLB.} The identification of the sitter comes from a note on the
back of the painting dated 1900, though there is no guarantee that it is
accurate. Maria Ivanovna Bilibina née Kusova, (11 June 1784-24 Dec.
1848). The heiress of a St. Petersbourg merchant, she married Yakov Ivanovich
Bilibin (14 March 1779-11 July 1854), son of "Big Bilibin" Ivan
Kharitonovich, founder of an industrial empire, two-time mayor of the town of
Kaluga. Her husband is mentioned several times by Tolstoi in the novel “War and
Peace.” In 1812, he funded the local Kaluga militia that repelled Napoleon's
Army. Mme Bilibin is the grandmother of the painter and draughtsman Ivan
Yakovlevich Bilibin. Image provided by Tamás Strakovits; dates of Mme Bilibina
and her husband provided by Timothy F. Boettger.
1799? "Princess Maria Vassilievna
Kotchubey," oil on canvas. Hermitage. Starye Gody, Jul-Sep, 1911.
The painting was received in 1933 through the State Museum Reserve from the L.
M. Kochubei collection in Leningrad. A copy
(signature or anonymous?) is in the Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum near Moscow,
and is illustrated in Arkhangelskoye, by L.I. Bulavina, S.A. Rozanceva,
N.A. Jakimtchuk (Publishing house. Sovetskaja Rossija, Moscow: 1983); and in Vigée
Lebrun (2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN 9781785250729, p. 157 (color). {Not
listed or mentioned by VLB} Maria Vasilyevna Kochubei (1779-1844), born
Vasilchikova, was the wife of Victor Pavlovich Kochubei, a diplomat and
statesman (in the reign of Alexander I, minister of the interior and
chancellor; after 1827, head of the Council of State and the cabinet). She is
shown drawing a bust portrait of her uncle, Prince Vasilchikov.
Plato Zubov. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB.} A
book on Catherine the Great claims that VLB had painted a portrait of Zubov,
who was personal aide-de-camp to the Empress.
ca. 1800 "Artist,"
graphite on paper, 14 3/8" x 9 1/2" (36.4 x 24.2 cm). Pushkin
Museum, Moscow.
"Louise Auguste von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia,"
pastel, Schloss Charlottenburg, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. The
Sweetness of Life (color). {"2 Pastels after the Queen of
Prussia."} {"...the Queen of Prussia, who was not then in Berlin, had
the goodness to invite me to visit her at Potsdam for she intended to
commission her portrait." - Chap. XXVI} Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie
von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (10 March 1776, Hannover - 19 July 1810). A daughter
of grand duke Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Friederike
Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt. Married 24 December 1793 to Frederick
William III, who succeeded his father as King of Prussia in 1797. The couple
had nine children.
“Louise Auguste von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia,”
located in Castle Dunrobin, near Golspie, Scotland. This pastel was evidently
in possession of George Granville Leveson-Gower, the later 2nd Earl of
Sutherland (1786-1861). He was an ardent admirer of the Queen, having met her
in Nov. 1806 at Königsberg. An engraving
was apparently prepared from this pastel, though it was reversed and used a
different costume. {"2 Pastels after the Queen of Prussia."} Thanks
to Jana Talkenberg for providing the image and information.
Prince Auguste Ferdinand, pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). {"Apart from the two
pastel studies commissioned by Her Majesty, I did others, in the same style, of
Prince Ferdinand’s family." - Chap. XXVI; "I was later to copy all
these pastels in oil, and I did this immediately after my arrival in
Paris." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXVI} Born 23 May 1730 in Berlin; died 2
May 1813 in Berlin. Prussian prince and general
A son of Prince Auguste Ferdinand, pastel.
{"Apart from the two pastel studies commissioned by Her Majesty, I did
others, in the same style, of Prince Ferdinand’s family." - Chap. XXVI;
"I was later to copy all these pastels in oil, and I did this immediately
after my arrival in Paris." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXVI} This would have
been either Friedrich Ludwig Christian (18 November 1772 – 10 October 1806) or
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich August (19 September 1779 - 19 July 1843).
"Princess Louise
Radziwill, née Hohenzollern," pastel on paper, 23 1/4" x 16
5/8" (59 x 42 cm). Private collection. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of
Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio (2015), p. 297
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 213 (color). {"Apart from the two
pastel studies commissioned by Her Majesty, I did others, in the same style, of
Prince Ferdinand’s family... One of the young princesses, Princess Louise, who
had married Prince Radziwill, was pretty and very sweet..." - Chap. XXVI;
"I was later to copy all these pastels in oil, and I did this immediately
after my arrival in Paris." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXVI} Princess
Friederike Dorothea Luise Philippine Radziwiłł, née Hohenzollern (24
May 1770, Berlin - 7 December 1836, Berlin), a daughter of Anna Elisabeth Luise
(daughter of the margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and Sophia Dorothea of
Prussia). The sitter's father was considered to be Prince August Ferdinand of
Prussia (1730-1813), younger brother of Frederick the Great (lived 1712-86,
reigned 1740-86) , but some claim that her biological father was her mother's
lover, a cartographer named Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau. She was a
niece of Prince Heinrich of Prussia, whom VLB also painted. The sitter married
in Berlin on 17 March 1796, to Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł
(1775-1833), and the couple had five children. The oil painting, virtually
identical in composition, is shown below under Paintings done in Paris.
{"1 Mme de Souza, Portuguese
ambassadress."} {"Mme de Souza, the Portuguese ambassadress, whose
portrait I was painting at the time." - Chap. XXVI} Adélaide de
Souza-Botelho, née Filleul (1761-1836). In 1779 she married her first husband,
Alexandre Sebastien de Flahaut de Billarderie. She had an affair with Charles
Maurice de Talleyrand; their son was called Charles de Flauhaut. She fled
France in 1792, but her husband remained and was guillotined in 1793. In 1802
she married the Portuguese ambassador, José Maria de Souza-Botelho (1758-1825).
For comparison, here is a portrait by Adélaide Labille-Guiard. [Identified by Jana
Talkenberg.]
{"1 Another lady, whose name I have
forgotten."}
IN DRESDEN
[mid-September 1801]
1801? "Alexander I,
Emperor of Russia," oil on canvas, 24 3/4" x 20 1/2", the
painting (or a copy) is in the collection of the Royal House of Hannover, at a
castle called Fürstenhaus Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany. Photo from Witt
Library. {"3 Half-length, from a portrait of the Emperor Alexander
I."} {"I made several large bust portraits of Alexander in Dresden
from these pastels [produced in Saint Petersburg], but M. de Krudner brought
them back [to France] by sea when the paint was still fresh and they suffered
from the journey." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXV} [It sounds as though VLB only
prepared pastels of the Emperor and Empress in Russia, and prepared oils in
Dresden.]
1801? "Elisaveta
Alexeevna, Empress of Russia," oil on canvas, 24 3/4" x 20
1/2." Color photo located by Angela. [Not specifically listed in
the Dresden section. It sounds as though VLB prepared pastels of the Emperor
and Empress in Russia, and prepared oils of the Emperor (and Empress?) in
Dresden. As the dimensions of this work are the same as the portrait of the
Emperor (above), the two were probably painted at the same time, as pendants.]
There are other versions: version 1
was found on a Russian website; version 2 was found online. A variant, oil
on canvas, exists at Arkhangelskoe Palace, Moscow.
1801 Sidonie de Ligne {"1 The daughter of
Countess Potocka."} Signed and dated. Sidonie de Ligne was the
daughter of Prince Charles de Ligne (c.1758-92) by his third wife, Princess
Helena Apolonia Massalska (9 Feb 1763-15 Oct 1815), who later became Countess
Potocka when she married Wincenty Gawel Potocki (born 1749). VLB painted this
sitter’s mother in 1808. [Private collection.]
1801 {"1 A German woman."}
1801 "Teresa
Czartoryska," pastel on paper, 11" x 7 5/8" (28 x 19.5 cm);
hand-written inscription on bottom: L. E. Vigée Le Brun à Dresde 1800.
Regional Museum, Tarnów. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and
Poles (2016), p. 123 (color). Teresa Czartoryska (1785-1868). She was
the daughter of Prince Józef Klemens Czartoryski (1740-1810) and his wife,
Dorota née Jabłonowska (1760-1844). On 24 May 1807, the sitter would marry
Prince Henryk Lubomirski (15 Sep 1777-1850), whom VLB had first painted in
1788. According to Danielewicz, p. 125, VLB had prepared this quick pastel
sketch and left it as a "calling card" in the hopes of winning a
commission for an oil painting. Unfortunately, no larger work was commissioned.
1801 "Unidentified boy,"
pastel on paper, 12 3/4" x 9 1/2" (32.5 x 24 cm), signed and dated: 1801
L. E. Vigée Le Brun à Dresde.
IN PARIS
[late 1801 - mid-April 1803]
VLB didn’t have a separate section for paintings
done in Paris during this year and a half period, instead grouping them with
the other paintings she did in Paris following her London trip. I have created
this section and moved the following paintings here, as they are either dated
during this period, or seem certain to have been done immediately after her
return from Russia and Germany, rather than three years later after her trip to
London.
1801 "Self Portrait in
profile," pastel on paper, 21 1/4" x 12 3/8" (54 x 31.5 cm),
Musée de la ville de Rouen, France. Baillio (2015), p. 91 (color).
1802 "Louise Auguste
von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia," oil on canvas, faux oval
(trompe l'oeil stone oculus), 39 3/8" x 32 7/8" (100 x 83.5 cm),
signed and dated lower left: Vigée Le Brun / 1802. Hohenzollern Castle. Baillio
(2015), p. 295 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 211 (color). {"1
Portrait of the Queen of Prussia, painted after a study I had made in Berlin.
Large half-length."}
{"1 Prince Auguste Ferdinand of
Prussia."} {"Apart from the two pastel studies commissioned by Her
Majesty, I did others, in the same style, of Prince Ferdinand’s family." -
Chap. XXVI; "I was later to copy all these pastels in oil, and I did this
immediately after my arrival in Paris." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXVI}
{"1 son of Prince Auguste Ferdinand, their
son."} {"Apart from the two pastel studies commissioned by Her
Majesty, I did others, in the same style, of Prince Ferdinand’s family." -
Chap. XXVI; "I was later to copy all these pastels in oil, and I did this
immediately after my arrival in Paris." - Footnote 2, Chap. XXVI} This
would have been either Friedrich Ludwig Christian (18 November 1772 – 10
October 1806) or Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich August (19 September 1779 - 19 July
1843).
1802 "Princess
Louise Radziwill, née Hohenzollern," oil on canvas, faux oval (trompe
l'oeil stone oculus), 31 3/4" x 25 1/4" (80.5 x 64 cm), signed and
dated lower left: L. E. Vigée / Le Brun / 1802. Private collection. Country
Life, 164:714, 14 Sep 1978 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 296
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 212 (color). {"1 Princess Louise
Radziwill, his sister."} [Sold by Christie’s in 1978 for £8,000. The
painting came from the Radziwiłł family, and is signed, though
Christie’s expressed some doubt as to the attribution.] [Prepared from a pastel
done in Potsdam or Berlin, see "IN BERLIN (1801)."] Princess
Friederike Dorothea Luise Philippine Radziwiłł, née Hohenzollern (24
May 1770, Berlin - 7 December 1836, Berlin), a daughter of Anna Elisabeth Luise
(daughter of the margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and Sophia Dorothea of
Prussia). The sitter's father was considered to be Prince August Ferdinand of
Prussia (1730-1813), younger brother of Frederick the Great (lived 1712-86,
reigned 1740-86), but some claim that her biological father was her mother's lover,
a cartographer named Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau. She was a niece of
Prince Heinrich of Prussia, whom VLB also painted. The sitter married in Berlin
on 17 March 1796, to Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (1775-1833), and
the couple had five children.
1802 "Princess
Ekaterina Osipovna Tyufyakina, née Khorvat," oil on canvas, 34 5/8” x
28 1/4” (87.9 x 71.8 cm), signed and dated, lower left: L.E. Vigee LeBrun /
a Paris 1802; Chi Mei Museum, Tainan, Taiwan. {"1 Princess Tufiakin; I
had only completed the head in Moscow."} {"...I began her portrait
[in Moscow]; but as I was only able to finish the head, I took the painting
back to Saint Petersburg where not long afterwards I learnt of this pretty
person’s death. She was barely seventeen [sic]. I painted her as Iris, draped
with a rippling scarf and seated on a bank of cloud." - Chap. XXIV} Lived
1777-1802, the daughter of the Governor of Ecaterinoslav and wife of Prince
Petr Ivanovich Tyufyakin (1769-1845), an important court official who later
served under Alexander I as Director of the Imperial Theaters from 1819-1821.
While VLB erred in remembering her as being 17, her early death at the age of
24 or 25 was tragic nevertheless. Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for sending us
the image.]
1802 "Aniela
'Angélique' Czartoryska, née Radziwiłł," oil on canvas,
oval, 29 1/8" x 24" (74 x 61 cm). Musée au Palais de Nieborów,
Poland. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 127
(color). Shortly before VLB left St. Petersburg in June 1801, she prepared a study for
this work, pastel on paper, mounted on canvas, 16 5/8" x 12 1/4" (42.2
x 31.cm), which is in Petit Palais. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists
Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006); Baillio (2015), p. 293 (color).
Back in Paris, she completed the oil painting from the pastel study. Aniela
Czartoryskaya (1781-1808), was born Princess Radziwiłł, a daughter of
Michał Hieronim, Prince Radziwiłł, Palatin of Wilno (10 October
1744, Kraków - 28 March 1831, Warsaw) and his wife Helena Przeździecka.
The sitter, nicknamed "Angélique" by her family, was married in 1802
to Prince Konstantin Adam Aleksander Thaddeusz Czartoryski (1773-1860), son of
Prince Adam Czartoryski. The couple had one son, Adam Konstanty Czartoryski (24
June 1804, Warsaw - 19 or 23 December 1880,Rokosowo). [Identified by Angela
Demutskiy.]
IN LONDON
[mid-April 1803 - June(?) 1805]
1803 "Arabella Diana,
Duchess of Dorset," oil on canvas, 29 1/2" x 24 1/2" (75 x
62 cm), National Trust, Sevenoaks, Knole, Kent, England; Burlington,
111:262, Apr 1969; Apollo, May 1984, p. 343; Baillio (2015), p.
298 (color). {"1 The Duchess of Dorset."} {"The Duchess of
Dorset who is extremely rich, married Lord Wilfort, whom I had met when he was
the English ambassador in Saint Petersburg." - Chap. XXXI} Arabella
Diana Cope (1767-1825), daughter of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet (c. 1743 – 14
June 1781) and his wife Catherine Bishopp (30 November 1744 - 1 October 1827).
After her father's death, her mother married Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of
Liverpool (26 April 1729 – 17 December 1808). In 1790, the sitter married John
Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (24 March 1745 – 19 July 1799), the
only son of Lord John Philip Sackville. The couple had three children.
Following her husband's death, the sitter became very wealthy, and with three
small children, she married again, in 1801, to Charles Whitworth, who became
1st Earl of Whitworth. The sitter's three children by her first marriage, were:
1) George John Frederick Sackville, 4th Duke of Dorset (15 November 1793 – 14
February 1815), who died without issue after falling from a horse during a
hunt; 2) Lady Mary Sackville (30 July 1792 - 1864), who on 5 August 1811 would
marry Other Archer Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth (2 July 1789 – 20 July 1833,
Deptford), and after 1838 would marry his stepfather, William Pitt Amherst, 1st
Earl Amherst (14 January 1773 – 13 March 1857), with no children from either
marriage; and 3) Lady Elizabeth Sackville (11 August 1795 - 9 January 1870),
who on 21 June 1813 would marry George John Sackville-West, 5th Earl de la Warr
(26 October 1791 – 23 February 1869), by whom she had 9 children. On 27 April
1864, Lady De La Warr was created Baroness Buckhurst by Queen Victoria.
[Angelica Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p. 254, cites a second
portrait, attributed to VLB (but which she didn’t list or mention), which is in
the private rooms at Knole.]
ca. 1803 "Margaret Chinnery,"
oil on canvas, 36" x 28" (91.4 x 71.1 cm), signed lower left: L.
E. Vigée / Le Brun. Indiana University Art Museum. Apollo, 29:308,
June 1939; Antiques, 68:440, Nov 1955; Baillio (1982), p. 124
(b&w); The Sweetness of Life (b&w); museum slide (color);
Baillio (2015), p. 299 (color). {"1 Mrs Chinnery."}
{"...I went to stay with Mrs Chinnery in Gilwell..." - Chap. XXXI} Margaret
Chinnery (16 October 1766?, London - 5 November 1840, Paris), was a daughter of
Leonard Tresilian and his wife Margaret Tresilian, née Holland. On 21 October,
1790, the sitter married William Bassett Chinnery (3 March 1766, London - 3
March 1827, Paris), older brother of the painter George Chinnery (5 January
1774 – 30 May 1852). The couple had three children: twins George Robert Chinnery
(2 September 1791 - 18 October 1825) and Caroline Chinnery (3 September 1791 -
3 April 1812), and Walter Chinnery (23 April 1793 - 19 November 1802). The
couple were close friends of Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755, Fontanetto
Po, Italy – 3 March 1824, London), whom VLB painted later in Paris. The sitter
inherited a country estate, Gilwell Park, from her father. Her husband expanded
the property, but in 1812 was exposed to have embezzled £80,000 over a 12-year
period from his employer, the British Treasury, and the couple was forced to
sign over their estate to the Exchequer. The Chinnerys then fled the country,
ending up in Paris. Tragically, the sitter outlived her husband and all of her
children. In 2002, the remains of the sitter and her husband were repatriated
from France to England. See the Baillio (1982) description of
this painting (which incorrectly says that VLB painted the two younger
children).
ca. 1803 "George Robert Chinnery,"
unlocated. {"2 Her children."} {"As soon as I entered the
sitting room, two little angels, Mrs Chinnery’s son and daughter, sang a
charming song... Her daughter [was] then fourteen years old..." - Chap.
XXXI} George Robert Chinnery (3 September 1791- 18 October 1825, Madrid) was
educated at Christ Church, Oxford (where he became a published poet). George
began a career in the Treasury in 1812, surviving the discovery that his father
was an embezzler. From 1814, he worked as a secretary to George Canning, the
member of Parliament and future Foreign Secretary. George traveled extensively
through Europe with Canning, as part of his duties as an officer of the
Treasury. The British Library has three manuscript volumes of his journals of
travels from 1819-20. For comparison, here is a miniature
of the sitter ca. 1825, by Giovanni Trossarelli, and an engraving
by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr, after Joseph Slater.
1804 "Young woman playing a
lyre (Caroline Chinnery?)," oil on canvas. Yamazaki Mazak Museum of
Art, Japan. Museum website. {"2 Her children."} {"As soon
as I entered the sitting room, two little angels, Mrs Chinnery’s son and daughter,
sang a charming song... Her daughter [was] then fourteen years old..." -
Chap. XXXI} [Angela Demutskiy proposed the identification, based upon
similarity in appearance to VLB's portrait of the Caroline Chinnery's mother,
and based upon similarity in appearance to portraits of Caroline by other
artists.] Caroline Chinnery, (3 September 1791 - 3 April 1812) caught
whooping cough in 1811 and never fully recovered, dying of tuberculosis.
ca. 1803 "Charlotte
Dillon,"oil on canvas, 36" x 28" (91.4 x 71.1 cm) {"1
Mlle Dillon."} Auctioned by Sotheby’s, London, 10 July 2002, Lot 83, which
suggested the identification of the sitter. Charlotte Dillon (1788 - 26
September 1866), a daughter of Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon of
Costello-Gallin (6 November 1745, London - 9 November 1813) and his second
wife, Marie Rogier (d. 1833). Charlotte Dillon married Frederick Beauclerk
(1773 or 1777 - 22 April 1850), son of Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St. Albans
and Catharine Beauclerk (Ponsonby). The sitter and her husband had four
children: (1) Caroline Henrietta Frederica Beauclerk (19 April 1815 - 27 April
1878); (2) Charles William Beauclerk (7 May 1816 - 23 May 1863); (3) Captain
Aubrey Frederick James Beauclerk (3 May 1817 - 3 January 1853); and Henrietta
Mary Beauclerk (1 July 1818 - January 1887). [Other possibilities for
"Mlle. Dillon" were Charlotte's sisters Frances Charlotte Dillon (17
February 1780, London - 17 April 1819), who married Thomas Webb, or Henrietta
Dillon (1790 - 1811).]
{"1 Mme Villiers."} {"...I
nevertheless succeeded in forming an intimate clique … and was on friendly
terms with … the young Villiers ladies ..." - Chap. XXXII} Perhaps Frances
Villiers, Countess of Jersey (25 February 1753, St James's – 23 July 1821,
Cheltenham), daughter of Rev. Dr Philip Twysden (c.1714 – 2 November 1752) and
his second wife Frances Carter. In 1770, she married George Villiers, 4th Earl
of Jersey (9 June 1735 – 22 August 1805, Tunbridge Wells), with whom she had
ten children. From 1793-1807, she was involved in an affair with the Prince of
Wales, the future George IV, while still married to the Earl of Jersey. Frances
Villiers actually ran the household of the Prince of Wales, whom VLB painted
ca. 1803, increasing the odds that VLB would have met her. VLB mentioned
being on friendly terms with "the young Villiers ladies," and Frances
Villiers had three unmarried daughters during VLB's time in London: Lady
Elizabeth Villiers (d. unmarried 1810); Lady Elizabeth Frances Villiers
(1786–1866), who in 1803 married John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby; and Lady
Harriet Villiers (1788–1870), who in 1806 married Richard Bagot, Bishop of
Oxford. For comparison, here is a portrait of Frances
Villiers by Thomas Beach (d. 1806). Of course, the Villiers family is one
of Britain's eminent aristocratic families, so there may be many other
possibilities of a Mme Villiers and young Villiers ladies; alternatively, the
"young Villiers ladies" could have been unrelated to the sitter,
"Mme Villiers." VLB also mentioned as friends Lady Bentinck and her
sister, and Lord Trimlestown, and I thought perhaps these names would lead to a
discovery of mutual friends named Villiers. Lady Bentinck was Mary Bentinck (c.
1785-May 1843), married to Lord William Cavendish Bentinck (14 September 1774 -
17 June 1839). Lord Bentinck's great grandmother had been a Villiers, so
perhaps Mme Villiers and the young Villiers ladies were distant cousins,
although a biography by John Rosselli, Lord William Bentinck: The Making of
a Liberal Imperialist, 1774-1839, does not reference any Villiers. Lady
Bentinck's sister was either Olivia Sparrow (1778-1863), married 14 March 1797
to Brigadier-General Robert Bernard Sparrow, or Millicent Acheson (who on 12
September 1826 would marry Rev. J.H. Barber.) Lord Trimlestown was Nicholas
Barnewall, 14th Baron Trimlestown (14 April 1796 - 3 November 1836). A summary
search of these latter names also did not uncover a close tie to Villiers.
Another Mme. Villiers who had recently moved to London was the wife (name
undiscovered) of a highly-respected miniature painter, François Huet Villiers
(1772?, Paris - 27 July 1813, London), the son of Jean-Baptiste Huet. I do not
know if the couple had any "young Villiers ladies" with them.
However, VLB was discussing making friends and included the young Villiers
ladies in a list with others who were all English; it seems that if she were
discussing a French family that she would have noted that.
"Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach,"
unlocated. {"1 The Margravine of Anspach."} {"I had promised to
paint the portrait of the Margravine of Anspach..." - Chap. XXXI} Elizabeth
Craven (née Lady Elizabeth Berkeley) (17 December 1750, Westminster – 13
January 1828), a daughter of Lt.-Col. Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley
(18 February 1715 – 9 January 1755) and his wife, Elizabeth Drax. On 30 May
1767, the sitter married William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (11 September 1738 -
26 September 1791, Lausanne), with whom she had seven children, at least one of
whom VLB painted (see Richard Keppel Craven, below). They sitter and her
husband parted in 1780, with the sitter living in France and traveling
extensively on the Continent. On 30 October 1791, she married Charles
Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, with whom she had been conducting
an affair for a number of years. While in London she and her husband were known
as Margrave and Margravine of Barndenburg-Ansbach, their marriage was
morganatic, and she was never legally authorized to share his name and title.
In fact, on 20 February 1801, she was granted the morganatic title of
"Princess (Fürstin) Berkeley" by the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis
II.
{"1 Mme Bering."}
1803-04 "The Prince of Wales,"
oil on canvas, 23 5/8" x 15 3/4", Earl of Portarlington collection,
Australia. {"1 The Prince of Wales."} {"A little before my
departure I painted the portrait of the Prince of Wales. I depicted him almost
full length and in uniform." - Chap. XXX} George Augustus Frederick,
lived 1762-1830, effectively ruled as Prince Regent starting 1811, and became
King George IV in 1820 upon the death of his father, George III. The
identification of this photograph as a VLB is supported by the National
Portrait Gallery, which has an August 1804 pencil
drawing squared in ink for transfer, 11 3/4" x 8 3/4" (299 x 223
mm), by Henry Bone, after VLB.
"Vicomtesse de Polatron," oil on canvas. Unlocated.
Published: Tony Henri Auguste, vicomte de Reseit,Les reines de l'émigration:
Louise d'Esparbès, Comtesse de Polastron. {"1 Mme de Polastron."}
Louise de Lussan d’Esparbès (?-1804). She was married to the vicomte de
Polastron, a brother of the duchesse de Polignac. As a lady-in-waiting to Marie
Antoinette, she met Charles Philippe, the Comte d’Artois (the future Charles
X), and later became his mistress, during his exile in London. She died there,
in 1804.
"Countess Alexandra Andreevna Dietrichstein,
née Shouvalov," unlocated. {"1 Countess Driedrestein."} Countess
Aleksandra Andreevna Shuvalova (8 December 1775 – 10 November 1847, Vienna) was
a daughter of Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov
(Андрей
Петрович
Шувалов) (23 June 1743 - 24 April
1789) and Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Saltykova
(Екатерина
Петровна
Салтыкова) (2 October
1743 - 13 October 1816, Rome). The sitter was married 10 July 1797 to Count
(later Prince) Franz Josef Karl Johann Nepomuk Quirin von Dietrichstein
Proskau-Leslie (28 April 1767 - 8 July 1854). The marriage proved very unhappy,
though, and the marriage ended in 1804. They had one child, Joseph Franz,
Prince of Dietrichstein (28 March 1798 – 10 July 1858, Friedland,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). VLB had painted the sitter twice in St.
Petersburg, once before her marriage, and again afterwards.
{"1 Polastron the younger as a child."} Probably
Louis, son of Mme de Polastron and her husband, the vicomte de Polastron.
ca. 1805 "Lord Byron,"
oil on canvas, 22 1/4" x 18 1/4," American Art News, Apr. 30,
1921; Burlington, 1924.{"1 Lord Byron."} George
Gordon Byron (1788-1824) became 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale at the age of 10,
on 21 May 1798. He did not win fame as a poet until 1809, and his family's
estate had been drastically diminished by the actions of his late father.
[These factors led Goodden, The Sweetness of Life, p. 257, to believe
this listing was a mistake for Prince Biron of Courland (though VLB has a
separate listing later in this section for that sitter).] However, Lord
Byron's mother was still indulgent of her son, raising funds to send him to
Harrow (from 1801-July 1805), and perhaps she arranged to have his portrait
painted by VLB. The sitter does bear a resemblance to another artist’s portrait
of Byron. A discussion of the attribution and identification of the sitter is
available: page 1
and page 2.
1803-05 "Prince Ivan
Ivanovich Bariatinski," oil on canvas, 34 1/4" x 26 3/8" (87
x 67 cm), Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Baillio (2015), p. 301 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 215 (color). {"1 Prince Bariatinski."}
{"...Prince Bariatinsky, who had lived in London for many years..." -
Chap. XXIX} VLB had previously painted the sitter in Russia. [Elena
Sharnova, associate professor, University of Human Sciences, Moscow, and the
former curator of French Paintings in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, informed
us that the painting is located at the Pushkin.]
ca. 1796-1801 "Prince Ivan
Ivanovich Bariatinski," pastel, 19 1/2" x 15 3/4" (49 x 40
cm), Pushkin Museum, Moscow, photo located at Witt Library. [Elena Sharnova,
associate professor, University of Human Sciences, Moscow, and the former
curator of French Paintings in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, informed us
that the pastel is located at the Pushkin.]
"American woman,"
{"1 A very pretty American woman."} An engraving
also exists.
"Kepel Richard Craven," unlocated.
{"1 M. Kepell, son of the Margravine of Anspach."} Keppel Richard
Craven (1779 – 24 June 1851, Naples), third and youngest son of William Craven,
6th baron Craven (11 September 1738 - 26 September 1791, Lausanne), by
Elizabeth Berkeley Craven (17 December 1750, Westminster – 13 January 1828). He
published A Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples
(1821), and Italian Scenes: a Series of interesting Delineations of
Remarkable Views and of Celebrated Remains of Antiquity (1825), and Excursions
in the Abruzzi and Northern Provinces of Naples (1838). He was friends with
Sir William Drummond, Sir William Gell, and Lady Blessington. Per Goodden, The
Sweetness of Life, p. 252, the Margravine’s memoirs refer to her son’s
portrait having been done in France by an artist of Marie-Antoinette’s, so
there may also be an earlier, unlisted portrait of this sitter (or one of his
brothers).
"Self Portrait,"
{"3 Self-portraits."} [Engraving located by Angela Demutskiy.]
1804-05 "Giuseppina
Grassini," oil on canvas, 54 1/2" x 42 1/2," Photo from the
Witt Library. {"3 Mme Grassini; two in oriental costume, one large
the other small, and another half-length."}{"The two great singers of
the London Opera, Mrs Billington and Mme Grassini, came and sang two duets
together..."- Chap. XXIX} [See also the portraits VLB painted upon her
return to Paris.]
1805 "Giuseppina Grassini
in the role of Zaïra," oil on canvas, 50" x 37 3/8" (127 x
95 cm). Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, Emporium (detail), Oct 1940, p. 174
(b&w); The Sweetness of Life (color); Baillio (2015), P. 302
(color). {"3 Mme Grassini; two in oriental costume, one large the other
small, and another half-length."} This portrait had been dated
1804, but Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p. 246, notes that while
Grassini came to London in 1804, she didn’t sing the part of Zaïra until 1805.
VLB bequeathed this portrait to Rouen.
1805 "Preliminary study
of Giuseppina Grassini in the role of Zaïra," black chalk, pastel on
brown paper, 16 5/8" x 15 5/8" (42.4 x 39.8 cm). Auctioned
6-July-1999. Baillio (2015), p. 303 (color).
"Giuseppina Grassini,"
oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25" (80 x 63.5 cm). {"3 Mme Grassini;
two in oriental costume, one large the other small, and another half-length."}
[This portrait had been on-loan to Musée Calvet, Avignon, until being returned
to its owner in 1998, and submitted to Sotheby’s for auction.] Angelica
Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p. 310-11, reports that VLB
bequeathed a bust-length portrait of this sitter to the Vaucluse Academy in
Avignon, which had made VLB an honorary member in 1827.
1804 "Lady Perceval,"
pastel, 18 7/8" x 14 3/4" (48 x 37.5 cm), signed and dated: LeBrun
/ 1804. Private collection. Published in André Blum, Madame Vigée-Lebrun
peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siécle, 1919; Vigée Lebrun
(2015), Parkstone Int'l, ISBN 9781785250729, p. 227 (color). {Not listed by
VLB. Presumably the below listing "portrait of an Irishwoman" would
belong to a sitter who was not famous, and not the wife of the Attorney
General.} Born Jane Wilson (1769-1844), she and her older sister Margaretta
were courted by the Perceval brothers. Their father approved Margaretta's
marriage to Charles Perceval (Lord Arden), a wealthy Member of Parliament and
Lord of the Admiralty, but disapproved of the match between Jane and Spencer
Perceval, who was a modest barrister. The couple eloped, and by the time VLB
met them, Spencer Percival had himself become a Member of Parliament and had
been selected Attorney General. (He would later rise to become Prime Minister,
1809-12, being assassinated in office.) In 1815, Jane married Lieutenant-Colonel
Sir Henry Carr, who died in 1821.
{"1 Portrait of an Irishwoman."}
{"1 Lady Georgina, daughter of Lady
Gordon."} Georgiana Gordon (1781 - 1853), was the daughter of Alexander
Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (18 June 1743 – 17 June 1827) and his wife, Jane,
née Maxwell (c. 1748 – 14 April 1812). In London on 23 June 1803, she married
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (6 July 1766 – 20 October 1839). For
comparison, the National Portrait Gallery has: an 1803
mezzotint by Samuel William Reynolds, after John Hoppner; an 1804
stipple engraving by Mackenzie, after Robert William Satchwell; and an 1807
stipple engraving by Mackenzie, after William Marshall Craig.
{"1 Le Prince Biron de Courlande in hunting
costume."} Gustav Kalixt Biron, Prince of Courland (1780-1821). He was
the son of Carl Ernst Biron (1728-1801), and a nephew of Peter Biron
(1724-1800). The family’s estates were mostly in Silesia, now Poland, but they
had many other estates and palaces throughout Europe. [Identified by Jana
Talkenberg.]
1810 "Princess Biron of
Courtland," oil on canvas, 31 7/8" x 24", signed on left on
back of chair: Mme Lebrun 1810. [This photo was originally found in the
Witt Library, Olivier Blanc supplied a cleaner version.] Another version, oil on
canvas, 82.2 x 66 cm, was formerly situated in castle Gross-Wartenberg in
Low-Silesia (now Poland); the castle was destroyed at the end of World War II,
but the painting survived and is now in the National Museum Wroclaw, Poland.
{Not listed by VLB, though VLB lists a painting of the sitter's husband,
above.} Born Franziska (Fanny), Countess of Maltzahn (23 Sept. 1790-25 March
1849). She was married 8 Sept. 1806 to Gustav Kalixt Biron, Prince of Courland
(1780 – 1821), a portrait of whom VLB listed, above. [Biographical
information and data on the alternate version from Jana Talkenberg.]
{"Sea views in pastel and several
landscapes."} {"I made several excursions on to the sea with the
Margravine. Once we landed on the Isle of Wight, an island which stands high on
a rock and rather resembles Switzerland." - Chap. XXXI}
{"The Duc de Monpensier would sometimes call
for me and we would go out to sketch together. He took me to the terrace at
Richmond and showed me the splendid view; from that height it was possible to
look down upon a large stretch of the river." - Chap. XXXI}
1803 Mrs. Canning {"... when I painted
portraits such as that of Mrs Canning among others, which I did in 1803
..." - Letter VII}
1803 "Portrait of
a Woman," oil on canvas, 35 3/4" x 28" (90.8 x 71.1 cm),
signed and dated lower right: L.E. Vigée / Le Brun / Londres / 1803.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. {Not listed by VLB.} Some
scholars believe this to be Anne Catherine Augier Vestris (1777–1809), a French
dancer who went by the stage name Aimée. Anne Catherine was the wife of dancer
Auguste Vestris (1760-1842). VLB had mentioned the two dancers in Letter
VIII of her Souvenirs.
1804 "Mdm Vestris,"
35 1/2" x 27 1/2," sold 5/15/1908 by Christie, London, to Davis,
£157. {Not listed by VLB.}
1803-05 "Earl of Radnor,"
oil on canvas. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB.} William Pleydell-Bouverie,
third Earl Radnor (11 May 1779 - 9 April 1869), styled Viscount Folkestone
until 1828, distinguished whig politician. Partly educated in France, as a boy
he was introduced to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and witnessed the early
stages of the Revolution. He returned to England, and entered Parliament in
1801.
"Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, Duchess of
York." [Not listed or mentioned by VLB.] The National Portrait Gallery has
a stipple
engraving, 11 in. x 5 5/8 in. (278 mm x 218 mm) plate size; 11 1/2 in. x 9
in. (292 mm x 230 mm) paper size, by Marie Anne Bourlier, published 19 May 1806
by Edward Harding, is after VLB’s painting. Princess Frederica Charlotte of
Prussia (Friederike Charlotte Ulrike Katharina) (7 May 1767 – 6 August 1820)
was the only daughter of Frederick William II of Prussia and his first wife
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg. On 29 September 1791, she married
Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827),
second son of King George III.
1805-06 “Corisande de
Gramont, Lady Ossulston (later Countess of Tankerville),” pastel on paper
laid down on canvas, 18” x 13 1/4” (45.8 x 33.6 cm). Auctioned at Bonhams, New
York: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 [Lot 89]; Baillio (2016), p. 216 (color).
{Not listed by VLB.} Corisande Armandine Sophie Léonie Hélène de Gramont
(1782-January 23, 1865), daughter of Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, duc de
Gramont and Aglaé de Polignac, and a granddaughter of Gabrielle de Polastron,
duchesse de Polignac. Her arms were seriously burned by a 1803 fire at Holyrood
Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, with her mother dying as a result of injuries she
sustained in that incident. On 28 July 1806, Corisande married Charles Augustus
Bennett, Lord Ossulston (28 April 1776 – 25 June 1859). He was an English
Member of Parliament from 1806-18 and from 1820-22. Upon the death of his
father in 1822, he became 5th Earl of Tankerville. [Thanks to Angela for
the biographical data.] A note indicates the pastel was completed in 1806, but
VLB was back in Paris by then, while the sitter was in England. Perhaps it
dates to 1805, or VLB began work on it then and completed it in Paris. Another
possibility is that VLB prepared the pastel in 1806 from her memory of the
sitter in 1805.
FOLLOWING MY
RETURN TO PARIS [July 1805 - 1842]
1806 "Angelica
Catalani," oil on canvas, 48" x 36" (122 x 91.5 cm), signed
and dated lower right: L. E. Vigée Le Brun / a paris 1806. Private
Collection. Baillio (1982), p. 125 (b&w); Art in America, Nov
1982, p. 78 (b&w). {"1 Mme Catalani with both hands showing, standing
near a piano and singing."} {"The first person I befriended on my
return from London was Mme Catalani, then the darling of Paris... I painted a
portrait of this charming woman..." - Chap. XXXII} [This portrait,
formerly owned by the Kimbell, was sold by Sotheby’s in London on 5 July 1989
for $400,000. A replica (not by VLB?), oil on canvas, 48" x 36"
(122 x 91.5 cm) had been in the Youssoupoff collection, and is currently at the
Archangelskoye Museum outside Moscow.] Lived 1779-1849. See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1806 "Caroline Murat
with her daughter, Letizia," oil on canvas, 85 1/4" x 56
1/2" (216.5 x 143.5 cm), signed and dated lower left: L.E. Vigée Le
Brun 1807. Musée National du Château de Versailles (Trianon). Baillio
(2015), p. 305 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 219 (color). {"1 Mme
Murat, full length, holding her daughter."} {"[Napoléon] Bonaparte …
commission[ed] me to paint a portrait of his sister, Mme Murat. ...I included
Mme Murat’s daughter in the painting, a very pretty little girl..."- Chap.
XXXII} [VLB describes a long time between sittings, with her having to modify
the sitter’s hair, jewelry, and dresses each time.] Caroline Bonaparte (25
March 1782 – 18 May 1839) was Napoléon’s youngest sister. On 20 January
1800, she married Joachim Murat (1767-1815), a brilliant cavalry officer who
had served in many campaigns with Napoléon. In 1808, Murat succeeded Joseph
Bonaparte as King of Naples. The couple had four children. Their second child,
pictured, was Marie Letizia Joséphine Annonciade Murat (26 April 1802, Paris -
12 March 1859, Bologna). On 27 October 1823, in Venice, Letizia married Guido
Taddeo Pepoli, Marchese Pepoli, Conte di Castiglione (Bologna, 7 September 1789
- Bologna, 2 March 1852), and had one daughter.
1808 "Self portrait,"
oil on canvas, 16 1/4" x 13" (41.3 x 33 cm), Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 93 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 225 (color). {4
Self-portraits for my friends."} {"The only payment I was able to
make M. and Mme Konig for their hospitality, was a self portrait in oil that I
sent them from Paris." - Footnote 1, Switzerland Letter IX.} Auctioned
21-Oct-1997.
1818 “Self Portrait,”
pastel, signed and dated: M. Le Brun pour son amie M.e Briffaut 1818. Portrety
Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav
Wasylewski, 1927. Auctioned by Sotheby’s 2007. {4 Self-portraits for my
friends."}
{"3 Portraits of Mme Grassini; one to the
knee, the third with one hand showing."}
{"1 M. Ragani, Mme Grassini’s husband, large
half-length."}
"Victoire Pauline de Riquet de Caraman,"
unlocated. {"1 La Vicomtesse de Vaudreuil, niece [sic] of M. le Comte de
Vaudreuil."} {In London: "Mme la Comtesse de Vaudreuil was young and
pretty. She had the most beautiful blue eyes, a charming face and the freshest
appearance." - Chap. XXXI} Victoire Pauline de Riquet de Caraman
(1764-1834). In 1781, she married Jean-Louis, Viscount of Vaudreuil
(1763-1816), lieutenant-General in the armies of the king and son of a family
whose members had been governors of Louisiana and Canada. [VLB erred:
Rather than being a niece of the Comte de Vaudreil, Victoire Pauline de Riquet
de Caraman was married to his first cousin, the Vicomte de Vaudreuil.] VLB
first painted the sitter in 1785, in connection to which Baillio (1982)
suggested that this later listing may be a copy of the earlier painting.
However, the National Portrait Gallery includes an 1810 pen and
ink drawing, 3 1/4" x 2 3/4" (84 x 70 mm) by Henry Bone after
VLB, which seems to show an older sitter rather than being a copy of the 1785
painting.
{"2 sons of Comte and Vicomtesse de
Vaudreuil."} {...during my stay I painted the portraits of her two
sons." - Chap. XXXI}
{"2 Le Comte de Vaudreuil,
half-length."} {In London: "I met the amiable Comte de Vaudreuil
again in London... He had married his niece in England..." - Chap. XXXI;
"During his exile, he married one of his cousins in England...; they had
two sons..." - Pen Portraits}
"Duchesse de Guiche," Vigée LeBrun, p. 146
(Doubleday, 1903), where it was identified as a self-portrait of VLB. However,
Angela Demutskiy found an engraving that identified this as a portrait of the
Duchesse de Guiche. {"3 Portraits of the Duchesse de Guiche, Mme de
Polignac’s daughter."} The Duchesse de Guiche had died in a house fire in
Scotland in 1803, so these portraits were painted from memory. [Baillio
(1982) cites a "Duchesse de Guiche," now in a private collection
in Paris, as having been exhibited at the Salon of 1824. VLB painted this
sitter on many occasions, and I don’t know which was exhibited in 1824.]
ca. 1799-1801 "Atalanta,"
oil on canvas, 42 x 40”. Sotheby’s. In Greek mythology, Atalanta was an
excellent runner who offered to marry any man able to defeat her in a race.
Venus gave Hippomenes three golden apples. Whenever Atalanta started to
overtake him, Hippomenes dropped one, and Atalanta stopped to pick it up,
falling behind and losing the race. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB.} Some
believe the sitter to be Julie LeBrun, while Angela Demutskiy believes that the
sitter is Princess Potemkine (see next listing). An engraved
version looks more like Julie LeBrun than the actual painting.
1797-1805 "Ecaterina Michailovna Potemkine,
later Countess Ribeaupierre," unlocated, no known reproduction [but see
previous listing for Atalanta, as Angela Demutskiy believes the sitter was
Princess Potemkine]. {"1 The young Princess Potemski, three-quarter
length."} [Nikolenko believes the portrait was started in Russia, and
finished in Paris.] The daughter of Tatiana Vassilievna Engelhardt (Princess
Potemkin by her first marriage, and Princess Youssoupoff by her second
marriage). [It’s possible this was done during VLB’s initial return to
Paris, 1801-03, before her trip to London.]
{"1 Mme Constans, half-length."}
1815 "Comtesse Marie Adélaïde Geneviève
d'Andlau," unlocated. {"1 The Comtesse d’Andlau with both hands
showing."} {"My own first visits were to my best and oldest friends …
the Comtesse d’Andlau, a very charming woman, who had a very refined
intellect..." - Chap. XXVIII} Comtesse Marie Adélaïde Geneviève
d'Andlau, née Helvétius (26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish (Paris) - 20
November 1817, chateau de Vore, Remalard), was the daughter of the French
philosopher, Claude Adrien Helvétius and Anne-Catherine "Minette" de
Ligniville d’Autricourt (1722-1800), who came from a prominent aristocratic
family, related to Marie Antoinette. The sitter was famous for her beauty and
personality. In Paris on 27 September 1772, she married François-Antoine Henri
d’Andlau-Hombourg (15 April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20 July 1820, Paris).
They lived in Versailles, and the sitter was close to Marie Antoinette. The
couple had seven children: 1) Anne Catherine; 2) Henriette Geneviève; 3)
Elisabeth Adélaïde Eléonore (died at birth, 16 June 1777, Paris); 4)
Armand-Gaston Félix; 5) Jean-Stanislas (27 December 1783 - 7 April 1789); 6)
Joseph Antoine Gothard; and 7) Hardouin Gustave. Of the five children who
survived to adulthood, VLB painted four of them, listed immediately below with
their biographical information. VLB had painted the sitter in 1786, which
likely corresponds to the misreading or poor spelling "Daudelot." VLB
did not list a portrait of her son Joseph Antoine Gothard (born 2 September
1787, Hombourg (Haut-Rhin)), who was perhaps busy with his military career. VLB
also did not list a portrait of the comte d'Andlau. An 1897 exhibition of VLB’s
work referred to an oil on canvas of Stanislas d’Andlau, 57 x 46 cm, belonging
to Comtesse de Chanaleille--perhaps VLB had painted Jean-Stanislas as a young
boy prior to his death in 1789.
1815? "Comtesse Anne-Catherine d’Orglande," collection
d’Orglandes, château de Lonné (Orne). {"2 The Comtesse de Rosambeau and la
Comtesse d’Orglande, daughters of the Comtesse d’Andlau, both with their
hands showing."} {"… at the same time I saw her two daughters, Mme de
Rosambo and Mme d’Orglande, worthy of their mother, being both clever and
beautiful." - Chap. XXVIII} Anne-Catherine d'Orglande, née d’Andlau (9
July 1773, Paris - 3 February 1855, Paris), a daughter of comte
François-Antoine Henri d’Andlau-Hombourg (15 April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20
July 1820, Paris) and comtesse Marie Adélaïde Geneviève d'Andlau, née Helvétius
(26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish (Paris) - 20 November 1817, chateau de
Vore, Remalard). In 1791, at Verderonne, she married Nicolas François Dominique
Camille, comte d’Orglandes (1767-1857).
1815? "Comtesse Henriette
Geneviève le Peletier de Rosanbo," collection Le Peletier de Rosanbo,
château du Mesnil, Fontenay-Saint-Père (Yvelines). {"2 The Comtesse de
Rosambeau and la Comtesse d’Orglande, daughters of the Comtesse d’Andlau,
both with their hands showing."} {"… at the same time I saw her two
daughters, Mme de Rosambo and Mme d’Orglande, worthy of their mother, being
both clever and beautiful." - Chap. XXVIII} Comtesse Henriette
Geneviève le Peletier de Rosanbo, née d'Andlau (4 December 1774, Paris - 5 May
1826, Paris), a daughter of comte François-Antoine Henri d’Andlau-Hombourg (15
April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20 July 1820, Paris) and comtesse Marie
Adélaïde Geneviève d'Andlau, née Helvétius (26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish
(Paris) - 20 November 1817, chateau de Vore, Remalard). On 10 January 1790, she
married Louis Marie Le Pelletier, marquis de Rosanbo (1777-1856). [Photo
provided by Olivier Blanc.]
1815 "Armand Gaston Félix d'Andlau," oil on canvas, 31"
x 21 3/4" (78.8 x 55.2 cm). Private collection, Allemagne. {"2 MM.
d’Andlau, their two brothers."} Baillio (2015), p. 313 (color). Armand
Gaston "Castor" Felix (16 November 1779, Paris - 16 July 1860,
chateau de Verderonne), a son of comte François-Antoine Henri d’Andlau-Hombourg
(15 April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20 July 1820, Paris) and comtesse Marie
Adélaïde Geneviève d'Andlau, née Helvétius (26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish
(Paris) - 20 November 1817, chateau de Vore, Remalard). The sitter was écuyer
de Napoléon I, comte d'Andlau et de l'Empire (upon his father's death in 1820),
commandeur de la Légion d'honneur. On 4 February 1823, in Nancy, he married
Pauline Joséphine d'Hennezel de Gemmelaincourt (15 December 1804, Nancy - 26
January 1873, chateau de Verderonne). They had three children: (1) Général
comte Joseph Hardouin Gustave d’Andlau (1824-92), ordinance officer for
Napoléon III; (2) Helene Anne Charlotte, who in 1843 married vicomte Mathieu
Jean de Charrin; and (3) Cécile Blanche (1827-96), who married comte Adolphe
Gustave de Chanaleilles.
1815 "Hardouin
Gustave d'Andlau," oil on canvas, 25 5/8" x 32" (65 x 81.5
cm), Rémalard, Château de Vore, Andlau collection. Baillio (2015), p.
312 (b&w). {"2 MM. d’Andlau, their two brothers."} Hardouin
Gustave (2 September 1787, Paris - 8 June 1850, Paris), a son of comte
François-Antoine Henri d’Andlau-Hombourg (15 April 1736, Hombourg (Alsace) - 20
July 1820, Paris) and comtesse Marie Adélaïde Geneviève d'Andlau, née Helvétius
(26 January 1754, Saint-Roch parish (Paris) - 20 November 1817, chateau de
Vore, Remalard). The sitter was 1er baron d'Andlau et de l'Empire
(1810), maréchal de camp, écuyer de l'impératrice Joséphine (1810), député de
l'Orne (1830-31). In September 1810, he married Aglaé Tourteau d'Orvilliers
(1792 - 15 March 1868).
1805? "Giambattista
Viotti," Connoisseur, Sep 1911, p. 152. {"1 Viotti, the
famous violinist."} {"...shortly after my arrival in England … I went
to stay with Mrs Chinnery in Gilwell, where I met the celebrated Viotti."
- Chap. XXXI} Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755, Fontanetto Po, Italy –
3 March 1824, London), Italian violinist and composer. Director of French and
Italian opera companies in Paris and London.
1805? {"1 The Marquise de Grollier painting
flowers."} {"My own first visits were to my best and oldest friends,
the Marquise de Grollier ..." - Chap. XXVIII; "Mme de Grollier was a
fine flower painter." - Pen Portraits} This may be a copy of the
earlier portrait (listed under 1788).
1814 "Allegory of the
Genius of Alexander," 43 3/8" x 33 1/4" (110 x 84.5 cm),
inscribed: Alexander / Magna / Paris / 31 Mars / 1814. It also looks
like something, perhaps VLB’s name (printed, not scripted) was rubbed out to
the left of the date. Hermitage. VLB had painted Prince Lubomirski at around
the age of ten, in 1787-88, and here paints him in a similar pose as an adult.
Czar Alexander visited France in April 1814, and the painting could have been
prepared for him. The inscription was quite possibly added by someone other
than VLB, and could have been added years after the painting was produced.
[Sitter identified by Angela Demutskiy, who also located the color image.]
ca. 1814 "Mme Pierre-Germain de
Thellusson," oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 24 7/8" (80 x 63 cm),
private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 311 (color); Baillio (2016),
p. 226 (color). Jeanne Rosalie de Reghat (5 September 1769, Paris - 14 March
1852) was a daughter of Pierre de Reghat (1739-96) and Marie Jaunez
(1736-1826). On 12 March 1787, she married comte Honoré Théodore de Lascaris de
Vintimille (born ca. 1740), whom she divorced 6 December 1793, when he
emigrated at the time of the Revolution. After narrowly avoiding the
guillotine, she remarried on 3 October 1796 to Pierre Germain de Thellusson,
baron de Coppet (1767-1831), with whom she had three daughters: 1) Émilienne
(1796-1859), who would marry baron Adolphe de Maussion; 2) Rosalie Camille
(1797-1864), who on 22 April 1816 would marry Auguste de Poret (1790-1866); and
3) Jenny Hersilie (1801-85), who on 25 February 1818 would marry Denis-Marie de
Rougemont de Löwenberg. VLB did not list this sitter. [Information and
image courtesy of Jana Talkenberg.]
{"1 The Bailli de Crussol, large
half-length."} This may be a copy of the earlier 1787 portrait (listed
under 1788).
"Mlle de Grénonville"{"1 Mlle de
Grénonville, half-length."} Mlle Duval de Grenonville (1801-1882), who
in 1822 married count Georges Joseph Victor de Caraman Chimay (1790-1860).
[Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
ca. 1824 "Aglaé Antonovna
Davidov, née duchesse de Grammont," oil on canvas, 32 1/2" x
26", Joseph Baillio identifies the sitter, an identification relied upon
by Sotheby's for its January 30, 2014 sale. There are two signature versions:
this rectangular painting and an oval. An anonymous copy, in rectangular
format, was auctioned in Paris, Drouot-Richelieu, June 26, 2002, lot 83
(attributed to the French School, c. 1820, entourage of Baron Gérard). {"1
Mme Davidoff with hand showing."} [Baillio (1982) lists this as
exhibited at the Salon of 1824. A miniature after this painting is in Poushkine
by Brockhaus & Ephron.]. Aglaya Antonovna Davydova, née Aglaé
Angélique Gabrielle duchess de Gramont (1787-1842?). A daughter of the Duchess
de Guiche et Gramont (and thus a granddaughter to the Duchess de Polignac). Her
sister was Countesss Tankerville, whom VLB also painted. She married General
Aleksandr Lvovich Davydov (1773-1833) in 1805. She later married Marshal Count
Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta in 1834 or 35.[Biographical
information courtesy of Angela Demutskiy.]
1828 "Charles François
de Riffardeau, duc de Rivière," oil, 29 1/8" x 23 7/8" (74 x
60.6 cm). Private collection; auctioned
19 June 1994 by Sotheby's (Monaco). La Revue du Louvre,
25:2:back viii, 1975 (b&w). {"1 Marquis de Rivière for Charles X,
half-length."} {"When I learnt how Charles X grieved the loss of such
a dear friend, I thought I might try and paint M. de Rivière from memory,
having already done this on several other occasions; I was fortunate enough to
succeed, and took the portrait straight to the King..." - Pen Portraits} Charles
François de Riffardeau, vicomte, marquis, and finally duc de Rivière (17
December 1763, Ferté-sur-Cher - 21 April 1828, Paris), a son of Charles
François de Riffardeau de Corsac and Agnès Élisabeth Cailleteau de La
Chasseloire. On 4 June 1811 in Paris, he married Marie Louise de La Ferté-Meung
(1776 - 1860). The couple had three children: (1) Charles Antoine Adrien (1
July 1812, Cervon (Nièvre) - 22 January 1870, Paris), who on 14 April 1841
would marry Stéphanie (1819-1872), a daughter of Arthus Hugues Gabriel Timoléon
(1790-1857), comte de Cossé-Brissac; (2) Adrienne Charlotte (12 July 1814 - 14
June 1875, Paris), who on 12 June 1839 married Hippolyte de Solages
(1809-1850); and (3) Louis Marie Charles (8 July 1817, Constantinople - 31
August 1890), 3e duc de Rivière, sénateur du Cher (1876-1885). The sitter was a
soldier, diplomat, and politician; in 1820, he purchased the Venus de Milo a
few months after its discovery, and offered it as a gift to King Louis XVIII,
who placed it in the Louvre.
1824 "General Charles Yves
Cesar Cyr, comte du Coëtlosquet," oil on canvas, 29 1/2" x 23
1/2" (75 x 59.5 cm). Private collection, New York. Baillio (2015),
p. 321 (color). {"1 The Comte de Coëtlosquet, half-length."} General
Charles Yves Cesar Cyr, comte du Coëtlosquet (21 July 1783 - 23 January 1836),
a son of Etienne François Denys du Coëtlosquet (24 September 1756 - ?) and his
wife, Françoise du Bois des Cours de La Maisonfort (1762-?). The sitter was a
French soldier and officer who served 1799-1831, surviving many battles,
sometimes with injuries. The sitter never married, though based on the
disposition of his estate and other circumstantial evidence, it appears he had
a son called Charles-Louis Du Bois (15 February 1823 - 28 January 1842) with
his cousin, Louise de Pron (see below listing). [The portrait was exhibited
at the Salon of 1824, showing the general with the Order of Saint Louis, which
was awarded to him August 1823. In October 1826, the general was also awarded
the Legion of Honour, which was added to the painting.] Biographical
information from Baillio (2015) and from Michèle Hannoosh and Bertrand
and Lorraine Servois, Delacroix, ‘J.’ and ‘Still life with lobsters.’
1818 "Louise de Pron,"
pastel, 16 3/4" x 12 5/8" (42.5 x 32.1 cm), signed Le Brun 1818.
Unlocated; auctioned 3 April 1992. Photo from Witt Library; Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006).
{"1 His niece [sic], Mme de Pront."} Louise du Bois des Cours de
La Maisonfort (17 May 1787, château de la Maisonfort, Bitry - 4 September 1842,
Beffes), nicknamed "Sarah," was a daughter of Antoine Philippe du
Bois des Cours, marquis de La Maisonfort (30 July 1763, Bitry - 2 October 1827,
Lyon) and his wife, Adélaïde Gascoing de Berthun, a close friend of VLB. The
marquis was a maternal uncle of General Charles Yves Cesar Cyr, comte du
Coetlosquet (see above listing), and thus the sitter was actually his cousin
rather than his niece. On 1 February 1808, she married Louis Jules Barbon
Rossignol de Pron, bearing him a son Adrien (29 November 1808, Nevers - after
1851). Her husband was institutionalized and later ruled insane. The sitter
became a mistress of Eugene Delacroix and his friend Charles Louis Raymond Soulier.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that she also became a mistress of her cousin,
the comte du Coëtlosquet, bearing him a son Charles-Louis Du Bois (15 February
1823 - 28 January 1842). Biographical information in part from Michèle
Hannoosh and Bertrand and Lorraine Servois, Delacroix, ‘J.’ and ‘Still life with lobsters.’ [VLB
referenced a painting of Mme de Pron for 1818, and the pastel bears that date.
Thus, it is assumed, but not certain, that this pastel represents Mme de Pron,
rather than another sitter.]
1823 "Count Emmanuel Nikolayevich Tolstoy," oil on canvas,
36 3/8" x 28 1/2" (92.5 x 72.5 cm), signed and dated (lower right): L.E.
Vigee Le Brun / 1823. Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 319
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 231 (color). {Not listed or mentioned by
VLB.} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited at the Salon of 1824.] Count
Emmanuel (1802-25) was a son of Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy (grand
marshal under Alexander I) and Countess Anna Ivanovna Tolstoy (née Princess
Bariatinsky, whom VLB also painted). VLB had also painted the sitter's maternal
uncle, Prince Ivan Ivanovich Baryatinsky.
1828? "Duchesse de
Berry," oil on canvas. {"2 SAR the Duchesse de Berri with both
hands showing."} {" I painted two portraits of Mme la Duchesse de
Berri. In the first she is wearing a dress of red velvet and in the
second a dress of blue velvet." - Chap. XXXIV} Marie-Caroline de
Deux-Siciles (1798-1870), the daughter of Francesco di Borbone (lived
1777-1830, ruled as King of the Two Sicilies, 1825-30). In 1816, she married
the duc de Berry, Charles-Ferdinand d’Artois (1778-1820), who was the
second son of Charles X. After her husband's assassination by a fanatic, she
gave birth to his son, Henri, duc de Bordeaux, later comte de Chambord. In
1833, she married again, to Ettore Carlo Lucchesi Palli.
1824 "Duchesse de Berry,"
oil on canvas, 39 3/8" x 29 1/2" (100 x 75 cm), signed and dated
lower left: L.E. Vigée / Le Brun / . . . 4. Private collection. Baillio
(2016), p. 232 (color). {"2 S.A.R. the Duchesse de Berri with both
hands showing."} {" I painted two portraits of Mme la Duchesse de
Berri. In the first she is wearing a dress of red velvet and in the second a dress
of blue velvet." - Chap. XXXIV} [This portrait was exhibited at the
Salon of 1824, per Baillio (1982). He cites two extant versions in
private collections, Paris and Florence.]
1820 "Tatiana Borissovna Potemkina," oil on canvas, 41
3/4" x 31 7/8" (106 x 81 cm), signed and dated lower right: . . .
Brun /1820. Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 317 (color); Baillio
(2016), p. 229 (color). Tatyana Borisovna Golitsyna (1797-1869) was the
daughter of Prince Boris Andreyevich Golitsyn and his wife, Anna Alexandrovna
(whom VLB painted ca. 1797 as "Princess Bauris Galitzin"). In 1815,
the sitter married Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Mikhailovich Potemkin, son of
Mikhail Sergeyevich Potemkin and Tatyana Vasilievna Engelhardt (whom VLB
painted 1797, in her second marriage, as Princess Yusupova).
1830 "Joséphine
Mathilde Bernard de Sassenay, later Comtesse de Baussancourt," oil on
panel, 28 3/4" x 23 3/8" (73 x 59.5 cm), signed and dated: L.E
VIGEE LEBRUN 1830 (S.D.B.D.). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes. Photo from
Witt Library; Baillio (2015), p. 322 (color) {"1 Mlle de
Sassenay. Half-length."} Joséphine Mathilde Bernard de Sassenay (24 May
1811, Paris - 17 March 1900, Saint-Julien sur Seine (Aube)), a daughter of
Claude Henri Étienne, marquis de Sassenay and Fortunée Prudence Claudine Breton
des Chapelles. On 25 March 1829, the sitter had married comte Charles Marie
Louis de Baussancourt (12 October 1797, Roanne - before 1900). The couple had
two daughters: (1) Marie Valentine de Baussancourt, who on 27 September 1856 in
Paris married Dieudonné Charles Saladin; and (2) Clara Amélie de
Baussancourt (7 August 1853 - 7 July 1916).
"Désiré-Raoul Rochette, " unlocated.
{"1 M. Raoul-Rochette, half-length."} Lived 1790-1854. A historian
and archaeologist, his marriage to a daughter of the sculptor, Houdon, brought
him valuable contacts. He was active in the Restoration. For comparison,
here’s a sketch by Heim, and another
by Ingres. [Biographical information courtesy of Timothy F. Boettger.]
1819 "Jean Charles Sapey,"
oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 21 1/4" (64.8 x 54 cm), signed and dated.
{"1 M. Sapey, half-length."} [Image provided by Angela Demutskiy.]
"Mme Lafond". {"1 Mme
Lafont."} [Referenced in Baillio (1982) as exhibited at the Salon
of 1824.]
{"1 Mlle de Rivière."} Perhaps Léontine
de Rivière (see below listing).
1831 "A woman (possibly
Léontine de Rivière)," oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25 5/8" (80
x 65 cm). Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Baillio (2015), p. 323 (color).
This painting has at times been identified as representing Léontine de
Rivière (1813-95), a daughter of baron Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste de Rivière
(2 November 1762, Paris - 20 January 1833, Paris) (Suzanne Vigée's eldest
brother, who had accompanied VLB on her travels from 1792-1801) and his wife
Antoinette Hélène Hébert-Golovina (1785-1848). Léontine's mother, born in
Montpellier, was the child of comte Nicolaï Nicolaievitch Golovine and his
mistress, Thérèse Hebert. Baillio (2015) states that Léontine was raised
by her maternal grandfather's wife, Countess Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina, née
Princess Golitzyna (Варвара
Николаевна Головина,
урожденная
княжна
Голицына) (1766-1819), whom VLB
had painted in Russia, who had returned to France in 1814 following the
Restoration--if so, it was only until age 6, as Varvara died in 1819. One
Léontine Rivière married on 15 November 1842 in Paris to baron Alexander Kocken
de Grünbladt, of St. Petersburg. However, this may have been a different
Léontine Rivière, as Baillio (2015) cites Rivière family descendant
and genealogist François-Emeric Cellérier that the daughter of VLB's traveling
companion had married a Russian general named Boudaievsky or Bourdaevsky.
If VLB indeed painted Léontine, she was probably the "Mlle de
Rivière" listed above.
"Alfred de Rivière," unlocated. {"1
Alfred de Rivière."} Alfred de Rivière (1818-1893), a son of VLB's
niece, Charlotte-Jeanne-Elisabeth-Louise Vigée, called "Caroline"
(1791, Paris - 28 November 1864, Versailles (Yvelines)) and her husband, Jean
Nicolas Louis de Rivière (27 August 1778, Paris - 13 April 1861, Versailles
(Yvelines)).
1827 "Baron de
Feisthamel," 35" x 28" (89 x 71 cm). Signed and dated lower
right. {"1 The Baron de Feisthamel with both hands, painting."} J.-J.
de Feisthamel. The painting was auctioned by Paris Drouot on June 14, 1985,
for 320,000 francs. [Photo and information provided by Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Le Baron de Crespy le Prince,
drawing."}
1832 "Mme Ditte,"
auctioned in Chinon, 13 November 2000 {"1 Mme Ditte."} Lucie
Garnier, born 1793. Daughter of Pierre-Joseph Garnier and Angélique Lucie Hall
(1774-1819). She married M. Charles-Honoré Ditte, Intendant militaire,
fondateur de la Compagnie d’assurances "Le Phénix". VLB was a friend
of the sitter’s grandparents, M. and Mme. Hall. [Identified and photo
provided by Olivier Blanc.]
1836 "Caroline de Rivière" {"1 Mme
de Rivière, my niece, with both hands showing."} Charlotte-Jeanne-Elisabeth-Louise,
called "Caroline" (1791, Paris - 28 November 1864, Versailles
(Yvelines)), was VLB’s niece, being the daughter of her brother, Etienne Vigée.
In Paris on 17 April 1809, she married her mother's youngest brother, Jean
Nicolas Louis de Rivière (27 August 1778, Paris - 13 April 1861, Versailles
(Yvelines)). The couple had five children: (1) Léonie de Rivière (1809-97); (2)
Léonce Georges de Rivière, baron de Rivière (1811-96); (3) Xaverine de Rivière
(1815-52); (4) Alfred de Rivière (1818-93); and (5)Xaverine Louise Amélie de
Rivière (1822-81). Per Baillio (2015), the sitter is portrayed
waist-length, holding a small floral bouquet of flowers, and the painting
remains with family descendants.
1812 "Caroline
de Rivière," pastel, dated lower right: a Louveciennes, 21 xbre
1812. [Xbre = December.] VLB listed a painting of this sitter (above)
"with both hands showing," which is known to date from 1836. She did
not list this earlier pastel. [Photo courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
{"1 Self-portrait in profile for town of
Saint Petersburg; it should be used to make a medallion, wherein might lie my
own portrait alongside that of Angelica Kauffmann."}
1789-1820 "Mme Du Barry,"
Private Collection, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Nov 1980, p. 160 (b&w).
{"The third portrait I made of Mme Dubarry … [was begun] towards the
middle of September 1789... I had painted the head and traced the outline of
the body and arm...My fear reached a peak and my only thought was to leave
France, so I had to abandon the painting half finished. I do not know by what
stroke of good fortune M. le Comte Louis de Narbonne found himself in
possession of it during my absence; on my return to France, he gave it to me
and I have only just completed it." - Letter X} A version by
Eugénie Tripier Le Franc, VLB’s niece, oil on canvas, is at Musée
Lauibinet, Versailles.
1805-14? "The Queen’s
apotheosis." {"1 The Queen’s apotheosis."} {"...I had
another portrait of the Queen painted during Bonaparte’s reign. This one showed
Marie-Antoinette ascending to heaven; on the left, seated on two clouds were
Louis XVIII [sic, meaning Louis XVI] and two angels, an allusion to the two
children he had lost." - Chap. XXXIV} Also known as "The
Dream," the painting had been in the chapel of the Infirmerie
Marie-Thérèse, rue Denfert-Rochereau, but vanished at some point in the 20th
Century.
"Comtesse de Lostange" {Not listed or
mentioned by VLB.} Per Angelica Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p.
296, a contemporary account by Brifaut lists this portrait as among the works
done after VLB’s return to Paris.
1835-42 "Monsieur Poujoulat" {Not listed
or mentioned by VLB.} Angelica Goodden, in The Sweetness of Life, p.
297, writes that VLB was past 80 when she painted the legitimist Poujoulat.
1805 "Laure de
Bonneuil, Comtesse Régnault Saint Jean d´Angély," oil on panel, 45
5/8" x 33 7/8." Sotheby’s Catalog, London, 3-July-1996 (sold
for $52,000). {Not listed or mentioned by VLB} Eléonore Françoise
Augustine Guesnon de Bonneuil, nicknamed Laure de Bonneuil. Lived 1775-1857.
She married the French statesman Michel Louis Etienne Régnault de Saint Jean
d´Angély (1762-1819), who was the Conseiller d´Etat under the Consulat,
Secretaire d´Etat to the Imperial family in 1810, and Ministre d´Etat under
Napoleon in 1814. The sitter was the daughter of Mme Bonneuil, who was painted
by VLB in 1773, and whom VLB had called the prettiest lady in Paris.
[Olivier Blanc reports that in 1788, when Laure was 12, she was a guest at
VLB’s famous Greek Supper, and that VLB prepared a drawing of Laure at that
time.]
1808 "Countess Helena
Apolonia Potocka," oil on wood, originally 32 1/4” x 26 3/8” (82 x 67
cm), though one of the panels is lost, and now the painting is only 32 1/4” x
18” (82 x 45.7 cm); signed and dated at right: E. Vigee / Le Brun 1808.
National Museum, Warsaw. Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and
Poles (2016), p. 132 (b&w) & p. 133 (color). The painting, which
was purchased by the museum in 1925, was restored in 2009. The color photograph
is courtesy of the museum and the curator, Dr. Elżbieta
Pilecka-Pietrusińska. Thanks also to Julia Slupska for corresponding with
the museum and forwarding the image to us. A 1938 photo
shows the painting before the panel to the left was lost. Princess Helena
Apolonia Massalska (9 Feb 1763-15 Oct 1815) was a daughter of Józef Adrian
Massalski (1726-6 June 1765, Warsaw) and Antonina Radziwiłł (18
August 1730, Chernavchitsy, Belarus - 1764). On 22 July 1779, the sitter
married Prince Charles de Ligne (c.1758-1792). Her second husband (she was his
third wife) was Wincenty Gawel Potocki (born 1749). [Identified by Angela
Demutskiy.]
1809 "Mdm Hennet,"
oil on canvas, 29" x 23 3/8," signed and dated lower left: L E
Vigee/ Le Brun/ 1809. Private collection. {Not listed or mentioned by
VLB}The sitter may belong to the Hennet de Goutel family, which counted the
painters Ingres and Chasseriau among its intimates. Offered by Bonhams auction
house, 7 July 2010.
ca. 1835 "Mdm Baudin," Bayrische
Staatsammlungen, Munich. {Image located by Jana Talkenberg.}
1811 "Head of a Woman,"
pastel, 17 5/8" x 14 1/4," signed and dated lower right: E.V. Le
Brun /1811. Private. Baillio (1982), p. 127 (b&w); color image
provided by Mercè and Jordi Alabern, finding it published prior to the work’s
1998 sale. See the Baillio (1982) description.
After 1813 "Jacques Delille,"
pastel, musée de Blois. {From Memory: "1 L’Abbé Delille."}
{"...the dear Abbé Delille came very often to Malmaison..." - Letter
XI} Jacques Delille, 1738-1813. Image courtesy of Olivier Blanc.
1811 "Flora?,"
Oil on canvas, oval, 72 x 50 cm, signed and dated: Mde Lebrun.
f.1811. National Museum, Stockholm. Donated by Ernst Davidsson in 1919. Museum
postcard.
1817 "Portrait of a
Young Boy," oil on canvas, 21 3/4" x 18 1/4" (55.2 x 46.45
cm), signed and dated on the rifle stock: Vigée Le Brun 1817.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Museum postcard; Baillio
(2015), p. 314 (color); Baillio (2016), p. 227 (color).
1819 "Portrait of a Woman,"
oil on canvas, 24" x 20" (61 x 51 cm), signed and dated lower right: L.
E. Vigée / Le Brun / 1819. Private collection, New York. Baillio (1982),
p. 128 (b&w); Baillio (2015), p. 316 (color). See the Baillio
(1982) description.
1821 "Saint Geneviève,"
oil on canvas, 59 1/2" x 42 1/8" (151 x 107 cm), Musée promenade de
Marly-le-Roi, Louveciennes. Published in article by A. Vuaflart, "La tombe
de Madame Vigée-Lebrun à Louveciennes," Paris, Societé de l’histoire de
Paris, 1915; Baillio (2015), p. 74 (color). {"Since the peace of my
country seemed assured, I no longer thought of leaving it... I so loved
Louveciennes that wanting to leave the place a souvenir of my own, I painted
Saint Geneviève for the chapel." - Chap. XXXIV} Angelica Goodden, in The
Sweetness of Life, p. 311, says the face has the features of Jule Le Brun
at age 14, and thinks the painting was a commemoration following Julie’s death
in December 1819. Goodden writes that this is the artist’s only known
composition with a religious theme.
1820? {On the way to Bordeaux: Tours, France:
"Standing beneath the portal of the second entrance to the Marmoutier
monastery I drew one of its towers..." - Chap. XXXV}
{"I was very glad I had undertaken this
substantial journey [to Bordeaux], all the more so because, thanks to my love
of ruins, I brought back a portfolio full of the drawings done en route."
- Chap. XXXV}
SWITZERLAND
(Two trips: 1807 & 1808)
1807 "Thoune Lake,"
drawing, 8.1 x11 in (20.5x28cm), signed and dated 1808. Possibly in museum in
Chamonix? {"On leaving Berne I continued on to Thun..." - Switzerland
Letter II} The lake, in Bernese Oberland, is one of the largest in Switzerland,
with 48 square kilometers of surface, and a depth up to 217 meters.
1808 "Thoune Lake,"
pastel, 18.5 x. 23 cm. Sold by Emmanuel Farrando & Guillaume Lemonie, 9
March 2005, lot 47, $22,000.
{At Schaffhausen, Switzerland: "I then went
to look at the [Rhine] falls from the base … and I painted both views." -
Switzerland Letter II}
{"The area around Vevey … I went to Clarence
at sunrise; leaning on the ruins of Jean-Jacque [Rousseau’s] chalet, I painted
the ruins..." - Switzerland Letter V}
{"...I saw a superb rainbow which formed a
perfect arc over Vevey; the village was so well lit that the clocktower and the
houses were as plain as day … I painted this view from nature" -
Switzerland Letter V}
1808-09 "Mme de Staël as
Corinne," oil on canvas, 55 1/8" x 46 1/2" (140 x 118 cm),
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva. Museum postcard; Pacific Art,
3:14, 1944; Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, 66:249, Sep 1979; La
Revue du Louvre, 30:2:79, 1980; The Exceptional Woman by Mary D.
Sheriff; The Sweetness of Life (color); Baillio (2015), p. 307
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 220 (color); Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth
Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 68 (color). {"Mme de Staël[‘s] …
sparkling and inspired personality gave me the idea of painting her as Corinne,
seated on a rock, holding her lyre and dressed in the costume of ancient
Greece." - Switzerland Letter VI} Baronne Anne Louise Germaine Necker
de Staël-Holstein (22 April 1766 – 14 July 1817), French-Swiss writer. She was
the daughter of the Swiss banker, Jacques Necker (30 September 1732 – 9 April
1804), French finance minister 1777-81 and 1788-90, and his wife Suzanne
Curchod (1737 – 6 May 1794). The sitter's first husband was Swedish
attaché Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, (25 October 1749, Loddby, Sweden
– 9 May 1802, Poligny, Jura). In 1811, she married her second husband, Albert
Jean Michel de Rocca (1788 – 31 January 1818).
ca. 1807-08 "Le Mont-Blanc,"
pastel, Chambéry, Musée Savoisien, Gazette des Beaus Arts, Mar 1978,
supp. 11 (b&w); La Revue du Louvre, 29:5-6:400, 1979 (b&w); The
Sweetness of Life (color). {Chamonix: "...the contrast threw Mount
Blanc into relief - not that it needed highlighting, but the sharp focus
completed the picture. I was seized with a desire to paint this reflected
light; quickly, I snatched up my pastels, but alas! it was impossible; no palette,
no colour could capture this radiance..." - Switzerland Letter VII}
1808 "Lake Challes at
Mount Blanc," pastel on blue-green wove paper, two sheets joined, 9 x
13 3/8" (22.7 x 33.8 cm). Signature and title (on sheet of paper attached
to back, in brown ink), at bottom right (?): L.E. Vigée Lebrun, and at
bottom left (?): vue du lac de challes au mont Blanc. Minneapolis
Institute of Art. Baillio (2015), p. 27 (color).
1808 {Chamonix: "I settled down to paint the
Glacier [des Bossons]..."; "I stopped yet again to paint a mountain
peak with a torrent of water rushing down its side"; "then seeing a
superb mass of trees on the low ground, I was keen to put that onto paper at
once"; "During my prolonged stay in Chamonix, I painted the whole
line of mountains interspersed with glaciers; I also painted the complete
length of the valley." - Switzerland Letter VII}
1809 {The scene of the landslide at Goldau:
"...I started to settle into painting the scene of the disaster..." -
Switzerland Letter VIII}
1808-09 "Das
Alphirtenfest in Unspunnen," oil on canvas, 33 1/8" x 44
7/8" (84 x 114 cm), Kunstmuseum, Bern. The Sweetness of Life
(b&w); museum postcard (color); Baillio (2015), p. 309
(color); Baillio (2016), p. 223 (color). {Festival of Shepherds
celebrated at Untersee [celebrated every 100 years]: "After the Festival …
I settled down in the field to paint the scene with all the people in it. The
Comte de Grammont held my box of pastels. I eventually painted it in
oils." - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX} VLB is seen in the
foreground, sketching on her knee, with the comte de Grammont beside her.
[VLB also sketched the lakes of Brienz, Zug and
Bienne, and the famous Goldau waterfall, according to a manuscript note in the
Tripier Le Franc papers.]
MISCELLANEOUS
PAINTINGS CITED BY VLB [Most are
undated, I may move them into chronological order later as more research comes
in.]
1777 "Spanish Concert,"
oil on canvas, 32 1/4" x 39 3/4" (82 x 101 cm), Private collection.
{"1 Spanish scene."} Baillio (2015), p. 122 (color). A letter
dated May 24, 1776 from Joseph Vernet to Pachelbel mentioned that VLB was
working on this portrait as a commission from the late Christian IV, Count
Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (6 September 1722, Bischweiler – 5 November
1775, Herschweiler-Pettersheim), Duke of Zweibrücken from 1735 to 1775. VLB
would not complete and sign the work until 1777. VLB's husband served as a
model for the man in the painting, and it is quite possible that she modeled
the woman after herself.
1789 {"1 Love asleep in a rose grove with two
nymphs looking on."} This was painted for Princess Helen Radizwill in 1789
(Paris). For half a century, the painting was in the Palais de Nieborów.
{"1 Young girl, surprised in her shift, hides
her breast."}
{"1 Young girl surprised while
writing."}
“Vicomtesse de Suffren,” 35 1/2” x 28”. Published by Helm
who describes: “Seated, three-quarters to left. 1/2 - length. Low-necked dress
of white muslin, with waistband of blue ribbon. Powdered hair, with roses.
Black scarf over right arm, bouquet in left hand.” Purchased by E. M. Hodgkins,
Esq., in the Kramer sale, 5 May 1913, 22,000 fr. {From Memory: "1 Mme de
Suffrein."} Born Louise Pulchérie de Guesbriant. She married Jean
Baptiste de Suffren de Saint Tropez. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
{From Memory: "1 The Comtesse de Las
Cases."}
{"1 Shipwrecked woman."}
{"1 Cataract of Narva."} {On the way to
Berlin, 1801: "... I went to see a magnificent cataract which lay at some
distance from the town. ...several of the inhabitants of Narva [Estonia] who
were watching me sketch told me of a tragic event... " - Chap. XXVI; VLB
apparently later used the sketch to prepare a painting.]
{"1 An old man and his grandson; fiery
glow."}
RiverWindingValley.jpg
- 1820-1830 "Landscape with a river winding valley," pastel on blue
paper, 5 1/2" x 6 3/8" (14 x 16.3 cm). Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 325 (color). {"As well as these there are about a hundred
pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my travels."} {"In
the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have not really told you how many
pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I completed roughly two hundred of
them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
Belfry.jpg - 1820-1830 "Landscape with belfry," pastel on beige
paper, 5 3/8" x 6 1/2" (13.8 x 16.4 cm). Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 325 (color). {"As well as these there are about a hundred
pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my travels."} {"In
the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have not really told you how many
pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I completed roughly two hundred of
them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
TreeRiverbank.jpg - 1820-1830 "Landscape with a tree on the banks of a
river," cream pastel on paper, 5 1/2" x 6 3/8" (14 x 16.5 cm).
Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 325 (color). {"As well as
these there are about a hundred pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during
my travels."} {"In the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have
not really told you how many pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I
completed roughly two hundred of them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter
IX}.
Bushes.jpg - 1820-1830 "Landscape with bushes," pastel on blue paper,
5 5/8" x 6 1/2" (14.4 x 16.7 cm). Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 325 (color). {"As well as these there are about a hundred
pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my travels."} {"In
the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have not really told you how many
pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I completed roughly two hundred of
them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
SkyStudy.jpg - 1821 "Sky Study," pastel on paper, 6 1/8" x
8 3/8" (15.5 x 21.2 cm). Private collection. Baillio (2015), p. 326
(color). {"As well as these there are about a hundred pastel landscapes of
Switzerland painted during my travels."} {"In the account of my two
trips to Switzerland, I have not really told you how many pastel landscapes I
painted from nature; I completed roughly two hundred of them" - Footnote
4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
ArdennesChurchMohon.jpg - 1826 "Landscape of the Ardennes with the church
of Mohon," pastel on paper, 5 7/8" x 7" (15 x 18 cm). Private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 326 (color). {"As well as these
there are about a hundred pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my
travels."} {"In the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have
not really told you how many pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I completed
roughly two hundred of them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
SkyStudyTree.jpg - 1826 "Study sky with a tree in the Meuse valley
(?)," pastel on paper, 7" x 8 1/8" (17.6 x 20.8 cm). Private
collection. Baillio (2015), p. 327 (color). {"As well as these
there are about a hundred pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my
travels."} {"In the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have
not really told you how many pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I
completed roughly two hundred of them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter
IX}.
MeuseValley.jpg - 1826 "Meuse valley with a village and characters,"
pastel on paper, 5 7/8" x 7" (15 x 18 cm). Private collection. Baillio
(2015), p. 327 (color). {"As well as these there are about a hundred
pastel landscapes of Switzerland painted during my travels."} {"In
the account of my two trips to Switzerland, I have not really told you how many
pastel landscapes I painted from nature; I completed roughly two hundred of
them" - Footnote 4, Switzerland Letter IX}.
MISCELLANEOUS
ENTRIES [Many of these images are
unresearched and are of questionable attribution. Others seem to be legitimate
works by VLB, but are undated, and have not yet been placed.]
"Madame de Coustard de Villiers," oil on canvas, oval,
35" x 27 1/2." The dress style dates from 1780-89.
"Woman sitting and knitting," black and red chalk on paper, (21.6 x
15.8 cm). Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Referenced in Baillio (2015), p. 209.
"Woman sitting and embroidering," formerly Destailleur collection,
sold in Paris on 7-8 June 1901. Referenced in Baillio (2015), p. 209.
1813 "Woman,"
oil on canvas, 23 1/2" x 24 1/8" (59.7 x 48.2 cm), signed: L. E.
Vigée / Le Brun / 1813. David-Weill collection.
1813 "Man,"
oil on canvas, 23 1/2" x 24 1/8" (59.7 x 48.2 cm), signed: L. E.
Vigée / Le Brun / 1813. David-Weill collection.
"Young girl,"
oil on canvas, 13 3/8" x 11 5/8", Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Elena
Sharnova, associate professor, University of Human Sciences, Moscow, and the
former curator of French Paintings in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, informed
us that the painting is located at the Pushkin. She reports doubts about the
attribution, indicating that x-rays suggested the portrait dated from the
middle of the 19th century, and suggests that it may be a copy after a lost
original. The sitter was at one point considered to be Julie Le Brun, but the
sitter's dark brown eyes do not match Julie's lighter eye color.
ca. 1775 "Madame
de Livry," pastel, oval, Bernay Musée Municipal, France. Neil
Jeffares Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800.
"Marie
Eugenie Rouillé-Ducoudreux," oil on canvas. Marie Eugenie
Rouillé-Ducoudreux was married to Michael Felix, comte de Choiseul-Daillecourt
(1759-1815). The portrait was sold on September 18, 2009, at the Hampel
Fine Arts Auction, Munich, Germany.
1795-1801 "The
Dancer," Starye Gody, Oct 1907. Listed as the painting named
"La danseuse" (The dancer). At the time it was in the collection of
Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolojskoy (1835-1909), the Director of the Imperial
Theatres in Russia from 1881 to 1898 and director of the Hermitage from 1899 to
his death in 1909.
"Young woman,"
Ingestre Hall Residential Arts Centre, Loire Valley, France.
"Mme
Tripier Le Franc," drawing, Brooklyn Museum, New York. Eugénie
Tripier Le Franc, née Le Brun, VLB’s niece. "Mme Tripier Le
France," this image was found in the Witt Library. Eugénie Tripier
Le Franc, née Le Brun, VLB’s niece.
1802 "Michel,"
oil on canvas, 18" x 14 3/4" (45.7 x 37.5 cm), Dallas Museum of Art.
Jana Talkenberg provided this image on 4 Sept 2013.
"Young
Girl," drawing, Musee Fabre Montpellier, Languedoc, South France.
(Image provided by Angela Demutskiy.)
"Jean-Jacques
Bachelier," de l'Academie Royale de Peinture, pastel, 12 x 15.5"
(30.5 x 38.5 cm). Not listed by VLB. (Image provided by Angela Demutskiy).
"Young Poet Reading," black pencil, brown and grey
wash, 9 3/8" x 7 1/8" (23.7 x 18.2 cm).
Olivier Blanc has provided an engraving
with the legend: "Carle Vernet", par Mme Vigée Lebrun / Gravure
de M. Romagnol, collection de M. Antonin Proust / (Paris Bibliothèque
nationale of France). The painting was sold as Circle of Henri-Pierre Danloux,
“Portrait of a Young Man,” oil on canvas, 25.6” x 21.5”, by Loudmer Scp., 15
December 1992, lot 53, $1,507. If the engraving properly identifies the artist
and sitter, then whoever bought the painting in 1992 received a bargain.
However, it does not look like VLB’s style, and the attribution to Danloux or
his circle may be more accurate. Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, lived
1758-1836.
"Madame Sicardi," head and shoulders,
robed as a vestal virgin, her eyes looking upwards. This painting was listed by
Helm as having been sold in the Constantin sale, 1816.
1799-1805 "A lady,"
pastel on paper, 11 7/8" x 15 3/4" (30 x 40 cm), private collection,
Switzerland. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006). The owner was kind enough to contact us and provide the
high-quality photographs.
"Iris," Photo
from Witt Library.
1778-1837 “Grafinia
Sofia Adamovna Zamoiskaia,” published in Michailovich’s Les Portraits
Russes. This is said to be a painting by Lampi, though Angela Demutskiy
suggests that it could be a work by VLB. Claudia Solacini thinks the portrait
represents Psyche, as it includes butterfly wings and the candle which Psyche
uses to see her lover, Cupid.
“Honore Francois Marie Langle,” oil on canvas, Monaco
National Art Museum. Honore Francoise Marie Langle, (1741-1807), born in
Monaco, he moved to Paris in 1768 and achieved success as a composer and
educator. [A number of us believe the attribution to VLB is erroneous,
based upon the pose, the presentation of the face and clothing, the fact that
VLB did not list painting this sitter, etc.]
"Ship Owner's
Wife," pastel, signed; La maison de l'armateur, Le Havre, France.
La comtesse de Bouzey, pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006).
Mme de La Briche, née Marie Le Maistre, pastel. (1755–1844). Neil Jeffares, Dictionary
of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006).
La marquise de Noailles, née Pauline-Laurette Le Couteulx du Molay (1776–1802).
Pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn
Press 2006).
Gräfin von
Rumbeke, née Anne Charlotte Alexandrine von Cobenzl (1755–1812). Pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006).
Antoinette
Savalette de Magnanville, pastel. Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006).
Mlle Schoen, pastel.
Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press
2006).
Jean-François
Thomas de Thomon (1754–1813), architecte du prince Esterházy. Pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006).
Gräfin von
Thun, née Marie Wilhelmine Gräfin von Uhlfeld (1744–1800). Pastel. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800
(Unicorn Press 2006).
Sketchbook, Image 1 (image provided by Olivier Blanc).
Elana Sharnova identifies the female figure in the upper right as after a
portrait of Christina of Sweden by Sébastien Bourdon. Elana believes that the
sketch was not made directly from the painting, but from the engraving by
Robert Nanteuil (1654).
Sketchbook, Image 2 (image provided by Olivier Blanc)
Sketchbook, Image 3 (image provided by Olivier Blanc)
Sketchbook, Image 4 (image provided by Olivier Blanc).
Elena Sharnova was kind enough to identify this figure as having been copied
from the bottom center of Raphael’s "Transfiguration." The painting
resided at the church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, until 1797, when French
troops seized it and carried it to Paris. After 1815, the painting was brought
to the Vatican, where it remains. A mosaic copy of the painting was installed
in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City in 1767.
Sketchbook, Image 5 (image provided by Olivier Blanc)
Girl, oil on canvas (image provided by Jana Talkenberg).
Young Woman, 59 x 47 cm, drawn on beige paper, Louvre.
"Comtesse de Rougé," Mlle Marie-Joseph Robert de
Lignerac, who married count Pierre Olivier de Rougé. This sitter is not listed
by VLB.
"Unidentified lady,"
provided by Olivier Blanc. Allegedly a self-portrait, but we don’t see any
resemblance to VLB.
"Mdm Coindre," discovered by Olivier Blanc on a
website, where the sitter is called Madame Serbat’s Great-Great-Great
Grandmother. No additional information is available at this time.
"Prince Friedrich
Alfred von Schönburg," collection of the Museum of castle
Hinterglauchau, Saxony. Wolf-Dieter Röber, Schönburgische Burgen und
Schlösser im Tal der Zwickauer Mulde, Beucha: Sax-Verlag, 1999. Neil
Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 (Unicorn Press 2006). Friedrich Alfred Fürst
von Schönburg-Hartenstein; lived 1786-1840.
"Young Woman
Playing a Lyre," oil on canvas, 35" x 28 1/2", Cincinnati
Art Museum. Cincinnati Art Museum bulletin ns 4:ii Feb 1949. Color image
found on Internet by Angela Demutskiy. [At one time identified as Countess
Sophie von Fries, but we now know that painting is a different one.]
Young Woman, pastel, oval, 55.5 x 46.5 cm. Attributed to
VLB. Auctioned at Hotel Drouot, Paris.
"Louis Charles, later Louis XVII," oil on canvas.
Attributed to VLB. Lived 1785-1795.
"Madame Poujault
de Montjourdain," Antiquarian, 15:47, Dec 1930. Sold to Vokins,
7/8/1882.
"Little German
Girl," oil on canvas, 33 1/2" x 26 3/8." Photo from Witt
Library.
"Girl with a Cat,"
oil on canvas. Photo from Witt Library.
"Portrait of a Woman," oval, Art Quarterly, Autumn
1960, p. 322 (b&w). (Olivier Blanc thinks this may be a portrait by
Voille.)
"Portrait Head of
a Youth," oil on canvas, 18" x 13." Apollo, Apr 1975,
p. 55; Country Life, 157:supp 55, 10 Apr 1975
ca. 1789-1792 "Comtesse
Narbonne Lara," Black chalk and stump heightened with red and white
chalk on beige paper, 17 1/4" x 14." Photo from Witt Library. Marie
Adelaide de Montholon, 1767-1848 daughter of Nicolas de Montholon and
Marguerite Fournier de la Chapelle. The sitter was married in 1782 to Louis
Marie Jacques Amalric, Comte de Narbonne-Lara (1753-1813), the illegitimate son
of Louis XV and Françoise de Chalus, De Narbonne-Lara. Their daughter, Louise
Amable Rion Françoise, was the Dame d’honneur of the Queen of Portugal.
[Information and dates per Angela.] Auctioned 19-June-1990.
"Bacchus and
Ariadne," Connoisseur, Nov 1969. [Not listed or
mentioned by VLB .]
1787? "Young Child
Reading," oil on canvas. Photo from Witt Library.
"Countess
Esterhazy-Plettenberg," oil on canvas, 27 1/2" x 23 5/8,"
Oval, Budapest. {Not listed or mentioned by VLB}
"Portrait du
Dauphin de France,"[*]; oil on canvas, oval, 22 7/8" x 18
1/8." Apollo, 90:cxxxii, Sep 1969, hopefully attributed by owner
although signed: G. Amaury.
Marie Antoinette, drawing. Angela believes this to be a
19th century print. It’s harder to determine what the original was. She thinks
the dress is the same as from the 1785 portrait,
while I think the head looks more like VLB’s copy of
Wertmuller’s.
1795-1801? "Self Portrait
(wearing turban)," oil on canvas, 60 x 45 cm. White blouse, blue scarf
on the shoulder. Llisted in the George Petit auction catalogue for December
10-11, 1928, as having belonged to the Ribes-Christofle collection.
1791 "Portrait of a Lady,"
oil on canvas, 25" x 20." Sold by Christies on 8/7/1977, lot 79, for
£6500.
"Countess Savorgnan
di Brazza," oil on canvas, 35" x 28 1/2."
"Young girl,"
oil on canvas, oval, 20 7/8" x 20 1/2."
"A lady," oil on canvas, oil. Photo from Witt Library.
"Lord Rosebery,
Dalmeny," oil on canvas, 24 1/2" x 18." Photo from Witt
Library.
"King Louis XVI,"
photo from Witt Library. VLB didn’t list or mention painting the King, and it
seems unlikely that she would have neglected to mention such a thing.
"Allegory of Night,"
oil on canvas, oil. Photo from Witt Library.
"Marquis de
Prouville with wife and child," oil on canvas, 44 1/2" x 33
1/2." Photo from Witt Library. Bergeret de Prouville, friend of
Fragonard, Vincent, and other artists. [Identified by Olivier Blanc.]
"Mme Louis Rene Adrien Dugas," oil on canvas, 29
1/2" x 32 1/2." Photo from Witt Library.
"The Artist’s
Mother?," oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 23 5/8." Photo from
Witt Library.
"A lady,"
"Woman with
pigeons," oil on canvas, 32" x 26." Photo from Witt
Library.
"A lady," oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/4" x 23."
Photo from Witt Library.
"Lady with dove,"
oil on canvas, 24 3/4" x 19."
"A lady," oil on canvas, 54 1/2" x 34."
1791 "A lady,"
oil on canvas, 25" x 20".
"A girl," black and white chalk and Indian-ink wash on
grey paper, oval, 23 1/4" x 15 1/2", Musée du Louvre, Paris. Image
from Louvre website..
1777 "A woman,"
oil on canvas, oval, 24" x 20". Photo from Witt Library.
Young girl with book. Image from Witt Library.
A Lady, pastel on paper, image from Witt Library
Young Girl, oil on canvas, 19" x 16 1/2".
Allegory,
chalk -- perhaps this is a sketch of a sculpture.
A woman, oil on canvas.
A child, color crayons, 13 3/4" x 9 5/8".
Attributed.
A child, oil on canvas, oval.
A girl, pastel, 14 1/8" x 11 3/4"
A lady, pastel, 17 3/8" x 13 3/4"
A woman, color crayons, 8 5/8" x 9 7/8".
A lady, drawing, 4 1/2" x 3 1/2".
A Russian artist, chalk and grey wash.
A lady, reading, oil on canvas, 50" x 36 1/2"
1782 A girl, oil on canvas, 29.5 x 24 cm
"Girl with a white
cap," pastel, oval, 17 1/2" x 14."
Woman. [Image from Olivier Blanc.]
ca. 1788 "The Dauphin and
his governess," oil on canvas. Photo provided by the owner, located in
Cádiz, Spain. Louis Charles, later Louis XVII, 1785-1795. The governess was
Louise Elizabeth Felicité, Duchess of Tourzel, 1749-1832. [Joseph Baillio
does not believe this painting is by VLB.]
"Jean-François Ducis," unlocated. [The catalogue for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1998 exhibition, "Augustin Pajou, Royal
Sculptor: 1730-1809," by James David Draper and Guilhem Scherf, states
"Vigée-Le Brun painted Grétry, Ducis, Sedaine’s daughter, and Hubert
Robert..."] Poet, lived 1733-1816.
"Sedaine’s daughter?," unlocated. [The
catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1998 exhibition, "Augustin
Pajou, Royal Sculptor: 1730-1809," by James David Draper and Guilhem
Scherf, states "Vigée-Le Brun painted Grétry, Ducis, Sedaine’s daughter,
and Hubert Robert..."] Michel Jean Sedaine (1719-1797), dramatist. Who
was his daughter?
"Boutin," unlocated. [Angelica Goodden,
in The Sweetness of Life, p. 295, cites Madame Viginie Ancelot who
reported (circa 1830) that VLB had in her drawing room a portrait she had
prepared of Boutin, who had died in the Revolution.]
Mlle Dangeville or d’Angeville (real name
Marie-Anne Botot, 1716-1796). An actress of the Comédie française, apparently
painted by VLB in her role in Dancourt’s play "les trois cousines." A
pastel after VLB, owned by Comédie française, was exhibited in 1885.
[Information courtesy of Olivier Blanc.]
Miniature of Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne,vicomte
de Turenne, Maréchal de France (1611-75). Prince Henry of Prussia, brother
of Frederick the Great, by Chester V. Easum (Madison, The University of
Wisconsin press, 1942), says that Prince Henry admired the French Marshall
Turenne´s portrait, and that VLB made a miniature copy of it for a snuff-box
and gave it to him as a present. However, VLB doesn’t mention having painted
miniatures, so the story, if true, might mean that she had someone else make
the miniature. [Information from Jana Talkenberg.]
"Young Dauphin Returning from the Hunt," Honolulu
Academy of Arts Bulletin, 4:66, Dec. 1936 [C.S. Stein sent an e-mail to Honolulu Academy of
Arts on 14 Feb. 1998, asking for information, but was not acknowledged with a
response. Followed-up on 17 March with snail-mail; also ignored.]
"Marquise de Jaffray," American Art
News, 3:5, March 25, 1905
"Venus und Amor," Weltkunet,
14:3, Apr. 14, 1940
"Unknown child," signed and dated;
formerly collection of Irma N. Straus; Parke-Bernet catalogue, 10/22/70,
lot 16.
1799 "Madame Natalia Nakharovna," oil on
canvas, 31" x 26," Sold by Sotheby’s 1/1990 for $198,000
"Madame de Maintenon," sold 7/18/1882 by
Christie, London to Vokins, £.105
"Monsieur Bachelier, de l’Académie Royale de
Peinture", pastel, 15" x 13". Auctioned 31-March-1993.
1812 "Colonel Bibikov,"
miniature, 2 3/4" diam, signed E. Vigée-Lebrun. Sold Paris 1919. Photo
from Witt Library. VLB is not known to have painted any miniatures, so this is
a strange attribution.
"Louise Marie Adélaïde de Penthièvre, Duchess
d’Orléans," pastel, 28" x 22 7/8". Auctioned 14-March-1998.
DETERMINED
NOT TO BE BY VIGÉE LE BRUN (And not
already mentioned in the main list as an anonymous copy of an authentic VLB
portrait).
1796? "Grand Duchess Elisaveta Alexeevna, later Empress of Russia,
consort of Alexander I," Museum of History of Architecture and Art,
Pskov, Russia. St. Petersburg um 1800 : ein goldenes Zeitalter des
russischen Zarenreichs : Meisterwerke und authentische Zeugnisse der Zeit aus
der Staatlichen Ermitage, Leningrad / Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen;
[Obersetzung der Texte aus dem Russischen, Nikolaus Thon]. Recklinghausen :
Bongers, c1990. This is a painting by Salvatore Tonci (1756-1844).
"Comte de Provence," by Duplessis
1773 "Comte de
Provence," oil on canvas, 79 x 62 cm. Grand Cabinet du Capitaine des
Gardes, château Versailles. This painting is by Jean-Martial Frédou (1710-95).
ca. 1820 "Duchesse de Berry," published in André Blum, Madame
Vigée-Lebrun peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siécle, 1919. However, it
does not appear to be VLB's style, and she only listed two paintings of this
sitter, both of which are accounted for. This painting appears now to be the
work of Flemish painter François Joseph Kinsoen (1771-1839).
1788-90 "Portrait of a
girl," oval. Francesc Cambó collection, Museu Nacional d’Art de
Catalunya, Barcelona. Illustrated in color in the Catalogue of the Cambó
Collection. The museum attributes this to VLB based on the opinion of
Sánchez Cantón; however, Baillio doesn’t believe this is by VLB, and neither
does Lucia Cardellini.
"Woman with an Organdy Cap," Cognaq-Jay Museum, Paris.
This painting is now considered to be the work of Antoine Vestier.
ca. 1788 "Marie Antoinette,"
oil on canvas, location unknown. Angela Demutskiy wrote that this painting had
been in the possession of the Countess Biron in 1931. Angela had noted that
this painting was nearly identical to a painting of Marie-Antoinette in hunting
costume in Versailles, except that in this painting the queen was wearing a
dressing gown. The portrait in hunting costume has been identified as being by
Wertmuller, and was dated 1788. Catherine Northeast/Todd notes that there are
many other variants, dated as early as 1784. For example, see the variant
reproduced by Lenotre. VLB's memoirs indicate that at the beginning of her
career, 1776-77, she prepared a few copies of portraits of the queen by other
artists. However, this line of paintings all seem to be dated later, when VLB
was already a respected artist and unlikely to be copying the work of others.
Also, there does not appear to be any particular evidence connecting this
painting to VLB.
ca. 1793 "Portrait of a young
girl," 15" x 18." Formerly owned by North Carolina Museum of
Art. Art Quarterly, 27:3:384, 1964 (b&w). Thanks to Angela
Demutskiy for locating a color image. Jana Talkenberg reported
that Christie´s sold the painting at New York on 26 January 2012 as a
painting by Antoine Vestier.
"A lady," pastel, 24 3/4" x 19 5/8." Photo
from Witt Library. Color photo from www.auktionsverket.se; listed for
auction 30 November 2006. Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before
1800 (Unicorn Press 2006), page 273, col. C, photograph i, attributed the
work to Labille-Guiard on the basis of an old photograph (which had attributed
the work to VLB). Having later received a color photograph from the Swedish
collector who had purchased the pastel, Jeffares revised his opinion in June
2010 and now considers the pastel a pastiche (likely late 19th Century) of two
paintings. “The first is Labille-Guiard’s painting of the marquise de Coutances
(more properly comtesse de Barruel-Beauvert, née Anne-Blanche-Victoire Cauchon
de Maurepas (1733–1799), pnt., c.1787 (Gustav Mühlbacher; Paris, Georges Petit,
13–15.v.1907, Lot 32; no. 93 in Mme Passez’s monograph on Labille-Guiard); the
pasticheur has derived the headdress from this source. The second source is Mme
Vallayer-Coster’s portrait (in oil) of Madame Victoire (MV 3807, no. 60 in the
2002/03 Vallayer-Coster exhibition catalogue), from which the pasticheur has
derived the lower costume. There is a pastel copy of the Vallayer-Coster which
may be contemporary (again I have only seen an old, poor photo;
http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/VALLAYER.pdf page 1, col. B, photo ii) but
suspiciously it bears the initials “JBP”, leading to its appearance in a sale
in Paris, Drouot, 3–4.iii.1905, Lot 95 repr., as by Perronneau.” Thanks to
Charles Vatinel for providing us with this information.
1808 “Queen of Naples.
VLB did paint Caroline Murat, but this portrait of the sitter is by François
Pascal Simon Gérard. [Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for the information.]
1772-76 “Portrait of a
Gentleman,” VLB Souvenirs 1755 -1842, Texte établi, présenté et annoté
par Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac (2008 Éditions Champion, Paris). This is a
signed and dated portrait by Greuze of the Duc de Choiseul Praslin; it was
auctioned as such in 2004. [Thanks to Jana Talkenberg for sending this image
to us, and to Angela Demutskiy for correcting the attribution.]
"Ceres Begging for Jupiter's Thunderbolt after the Kidnapping of
Her Daughter Prosperine," Museum of Fine Art, Boston. In the 1930s,
this had been misattributed to VLB by Galerie Fievez, Brussels. The painting is
now known to be the work of Antoine-François Callet. Thanks to Angela
Demutskiy for the update.
1789 "Dauphin Louis
Charles," graphite and red chalk, 3 1/2" x 6". Formerly
attributed to VLB, as of Sotheby's 4 July 2007 auction catalogue, the sketch is
now attributed to Augustin de Sain-Aubin. Thanks to Angela Demutskiy for the
update.
“A Lady,” oil on canvas, oval, 28 3/4" x 23 1/2."
The painting was exhibited at the Ehrich Galleries, New York, in Jan 1915,
where the sitter was identified as Countess Kinsky. [Here is a black and white
image of the framed painting.] However, as Angela Demutskiy points out,
Kinsky had dark brown eyes, so she could not have been the sitter for this
portrait of a fair skinned lady with blue eyes. (Helm described the painting:
white cap and dress, light blue sash; fair with blue eyes.) More recently, the
painting was auctioned as “circle Vigee LeBrun.”
"Countess Sophie (or
Helena Apolonia?) Potocka," pastel. The Witt Library had believed this
was a VLB, probably destroyed in Germany during World War II. However, the
pastel (or a copy?) appeared in a private collection in the United States, and
was later sold by Bonhams (London) as the work of Kucharski. Another copy was
sold in 2005 in Warsaw, by auction house Sztuka, which considered the original
to probably be the work of Salvatore Tonci (1756-1844), and which considered
the sitter to not be Sofie Potocka, but rather Helena Apolonia Potocka, née Massalska
-- in fact, the pastel or a copy was used as the cover illustration for a 2012
edition of the diary of Apolonia Helena Potocka, Pamiętniki
pensjonarki. Zapiski z czasów edukacji w Paryżu (1771-1779) {Diaries
of a Schoolgirl: Notes from an education in Paris.}. The proposed
identification as Apolonia Helena Potocka seems odd, as the sitter does not
have a strong resemblance to VLB's 1808 portrait of Apolonia Helena in the
National Museum, Warsaw. Sophie Potocka lived 1766-1822. She was mistress to
Jozef Anton Poniatowski (1763-1813), a nephew of the King of Poland.
"Count d’Artois," Art and Letters,
v. 1:plate facing 96, Jan. 1889. This was reproduced by Olivier Blanc, L’Amour
à Paris au temps de Louis XVI (Paris, 2003), as a painting by Danloux (cf.
Portalis). Others believe it to be closer to the style of Duplessis.
ca. 1780-82 "Baroness
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Stroganov," oil on canvas, oval, Hermitage. Lived
1769-1844. A copy of this painting. 68.5 x 55 cm, was misidentified in the
1967-68 Royal Academy Catalogue of French art, as being a VLB painting
of Ekaterina’s younger sister, Elisaveta Alexandrovna Stroganov. [VLB painted
Elisaveta after her marriage to Demidov.] Serge Danielit, Five Centuries of
French Painting, correctly identifies the painting as a portrait by Jean
Louis Voille. See also Inna Sergeyevna Nemilovova, Zagadki starych
kartin (Secrets of old paintings) (Moscow 1973).
1796-97? "Princess Ecaterina
(Karolina) Alexandrovna Dolgorouky, née de Litzine," Tropinin Museum
in Moscow, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Jul/Aug 1967, p. 100 (b&w). Lived
1758-1842. While Nikolenko attributed this to VLB, the Tropinin Museum
attributes this to Giovanni Battista Damon Ortolani, 1804 (55 x 68 cm). [Thanks
to Timothy F. Boettger for letting us know the location of the painting, and
the attribution given by the museum.]
"Mme Labille-Guiard,"
collection of Mrs. Frances Spingold, NY. Vigée LeBrun, Doubleday, 1903; Art
News, April 1960, p.32 (b&w). {VLB felt that Labille Guiard had always
expressed animosity towards her; thus, one may be skeptical about this
attribution.}
1806 "Lady with Lyre,"
oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Signed: Rivière. Baillio believes
this may be by VLB’s brother-in-law, Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Rivière.
However, Elena Sharnova, associate professor, University of Human Sciences,
Moscow, and the former curator of French Paintings in the Pushkin Museum of
Fine Arts, believes that it was painted by a Mademoiselle Riviere who exhibited
in the Parisian Salons in the 1810s. Olivier Blanc had believed that the sitter
resembled Laure de Bonneuil, but the owner who sold the painting to the Pushkin
(in 1964) represented it as being the portrait of Josephine-Wilhelmine
Budaevskaya, the wife of a Polish General in Napoleon’s service.
"Jean Baptiste
Pierre Le Brun" appears in this miniature by an unidentified artist.
Photo from Heinz National Portrait Gallery Library, London. VLB didn’t list or
mention painting her husband, which is surprising. This miniature resembles
VLB’s style, and it’s always possible that it’s after a portrait by her. VLB’s
husband (?-1813), whom she married January 11, 1776.
18?? "The Two Sisters,"
oil on canvas, oval, 30" x 24 3/8." [Bottom of image reads Sedelmeyer
sale, Paris, 1907. This was held May 17th and 18th. The only VLB listed in my
source from this sale was a self-portrait.] [Photo located by Bob and Martha
Kelly in the Witt Library; Olivier Blanc later provided a better copy.]
Information indicates that this was auctioned by Bonhams, London, in 2002, as
"Circle of Jens Juel," a Danish portrait painter.
"Young woman
with a directoire hat," Carnegie Museum, 10:1, Apr 1936; Art
News, 34:12, 9 May 1936. Auctioned 7 January 2006 by Pook & Pook,
Downington, Pennsylvania, as "after VLB."
1798 "Etienne
Roussée," 91 x 71 cm, oil. Earlier believed to be Prince de
Rohan-Rochefort, painted ca. 1775 by VLB. The painting is now attributed to
Danloux.
{"1 Le Prince de Rochefort."} {"The
supper parties at the Princesse de Rohan-Rochefort’s house were
delightful." - Letter III} There’s a listing of an oil on copper, 8"
x 6," sold by Sotheby’s 1/90 for $55,000. Charles-Louis-Gaspard
(1765-1843), son of Charles-Armand, Prince de Rohan-Rochefort (1729-1811).
ca. 1780-90 "Portrait of a
Lady," oil on canvas, 24 1/2" x 20 1/2," Dayton Art
Institute. Fifty Treasures of the Dayton Art Institute, 1969. Attributed
to VLB at the time of acquisition in 1959. Joseph Baillio determined this
attribution was incorrect in 1982, and this was confirmed by Dr. Margaret
Oppenheimer, and accepted by the museum. - (Per correspondence from Dr.
Dominique H. Vasseur, Senior Curator, to C.S. Stein.)
"Countess Praskovia Nikolaevna Golovin, later Countess
Maximilian Fredro," (child with a dove in her hands), oval. Private
collection. Portrety Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski
& Stanislav Wasylewski, 1927, p. 150-52. [Image from Julia Slupska.] Baillio
(1982), p. 113, says this portrait of a daughter of Countess Varvara
Golovine is not by VLB, though it is still listed as a work by VLB in an
article by Tomasz F. de Rosset, in Iwona Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le
Brun and Poles (2016), p. 85.
ca. 1795 "Izabela Ogińska, née
Lasocka," oil on doubled canvas, (66 x 56 cm). Museum of Warsaw. Iwona
Danielewicz, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Poles (2016), p. 139 (color). Portrety
Polskie Elzbiety Vigée-Lebrun, by Jerzy Mycielski & Stanislav
Wasylewski, 1927, p. 150-52, had identified this as a work by VLB, but
Danielewiz makes clear that is not the case.
ca. 1792 "The Dauphin of
France," oval, oil on canvas. Vigée LeBrun, p. 50 (Doubleday,
1903). Numerous versions exist. Some people claimed this painting dates from
1788, is by VLB, and represents the first Dauphin, Louis-Joseph-Xavier-
François, 1781-89. However, it is now established that it dates from 1792,
is by Alexander Kucharsky (1741-1819), and represents the second Dauphin. There
are many variants that support this position, including at least one signed and
dated by Kucharsky.
"A Little Boy of the Comminges Family," oval, 17"
x 14 1/2", Houston Museum of Fine Arts, published in Time, 4 Aug
1952 as "A child" by VLB. Art Index somehow came up with the
title "A Little Boy of the Comminges Family." Per e-mail from Jacqui
Allen, Art Reference Librarian, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to C. S. Stein,
dated 22 May 1998, the painting is now attributed to Rosalie Bocquet Filleul,
French, 1752-1794.
1807 "Marie Caroline,
Queen of Naples," Versailles. By the Italian painter, Landini.
"Madame Rouillé d’Orfeuil," oil, oval, unlocated. Shown
in Vigée LeBrun, p. 190 (Doubleday, 1903), as a self-portrait. The
artist is now identified as Vestier, and the sitter is now identified as given.
This is verified by Baillio, and by Anne-Marie Passez, Antoine Vestier, La
Bibliothèque des arts, Wildenstein, 1989.
"Lady picking a
rose," oil on canvas, unlocated. Photo from Witt Library. The
painting had erroneously been identified as Mdm Dugazon, and was falsely signed
"Vigée Lebrun". The artist is now identified as Vestier. This is
verified by Baillio, and by Anne-Marie Passez, Antoine Vestier, La
Bibliothèque des arts, Wildenstein, 1989.
1782 "Marie
Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan, Princess de Lamballe," oval.
Published in Antiques, Nov 1967, p. 707 (b&w), as a work by VLB, it
is now known as a work by Joseph Sifiède Duplessis, and is located at the
Musées de la Cour d’Or Metz.
1782 "Mme Gentil de
Saint-Alphonse," by the Swedish painter, Hall. Pastel, 65 x 53 cm.
Image from Witt Library, where it had been misidentified as Marie Thérèse
Louise de Savoie-Carignan, Princess de Lamballe, by VLB. Olivier Blanc
discovered the correct identity of this painting.
"Marie Antoinette," oil on canvas, 31 1/2" x 25
1/4". Angela writes, "I do not think this is by Madame Vigée Le Brun,
her head dress isn’t detailed and looks flat compared with the dress. The other
copies of the "robe à paniers" do not feature drop pearl
earrings."
"Marie Antoinette," and a copy, "Marie Antoinette."
Angela doesn’t think these are by VLB, and thinks they are more similar to the
work of Labille Guiard.
"Allegedly Marie Antoinette," oil on canvas, 29" x
24" (?). Angela doesn’t believe this is VLB’s style, and doesn’t think the
sitter is Marie Antoinette.
Marie-Gabrielle
Capet, chalk. This is a drawing by Vincent. It was engraved by
DeMarteau in 1784.
1776-77 "Marie Antoinette,"
pastel, Private Collection, France. This is a work by Kucharski.
1782 "Mme Courcelles,"
oval. Published as "Mme. Courcelles," in Vigée LeBrun, p. 176
(Doubleday, 1903). In Frantz Funck-Brentano’s book on the Necklace Affair, he
had thought it was the Princess de Lamballe. Baillio says that it is neither
the Princess de Lamballe, nor a work by VLB.
"Madame M. Michelle,"
24" x 19 3/4" oval, Park-Bernet Galleries, NY, 1941, Mrs.
Henry Walters Art Collection. Baillio says this is not a work by VLB.
Woman at
clavicord, this is a Russian portrait (c. 1802-08) of Jean-Laurent Mosnier
(Paris 1743 - St. Petersburg 1808), according to Gerrit Walczak, who
researches that artist.
"Elisabeth-Julie-Diane
de Polignac." Lived 1785-?, daughter of Louis-Melchior-Armand, vicomte
de Polignac (1717-after 1792) and Madeleine-Elizabeth de Fleury (d. 1788). She
was the half-sister of Armand-Jules- François, le duc de Polignac (1745-1817).
She married Sabakhin, chancellor of Russia. [Olivier Blanc thought this may
have been by VLB, but then learned it was a work by Danloux.]
Countess de Polignac, oil on canvas. Image from Witt
Library. By Danloux, per Olivier Blanc.
"Psyché,"
by Marie Victoire Lemoine, oil on canvas, 19 5/8" x 15 3/4," yellow
dress & blue cloak.
"Princess Sapieha,"
oval, Art News, Nov 1946, p. 48. However, this doesn’t resemble our
other portraits of Princess Sapieha. Angela Demutskiy has discovered this is
the work of Antoine Vestier.
"Woman with
pigeons," oil on canvas, 32" x 26." Photo from Witt
Library. Angela Demutskiy has discovered this is a poor copy after Antoine
Vestier.
A Lady, oil on canvas. The pose and the props are right on:
a simple dress, a sash, the flowers evocative of the portraits of Marie
Antoinette, the flowing scarf, and the famous drop earrings. However, Angela
Demutskiy has discovered this is the work of Lemoine.
1815 "Lady in
Napoleonic Dress," oil on canvas, Belvedere, Vienna. Signed and dated.
This is by Eugenie Le Brun Tripier Le Franc, who signed as Eugenie Le Brun.
Color photo by Lucia Cardellini.
Isabel Czartoryska, a Polish Noblewoman," appears in Vigée
LeBrun, p. 100 (Doubleday, 1903), without a date or location. Jana
Talkenberg has identified this as a painting by Maria Cosway, née Hadfield
(1759-1838), in Muzeum Narodowe (Czartoryski Collection) in Kraków, Poland.
"Countess d’Albany," pastel. Louise Marie Caroline
Aloyse, daughter of Gustave Adolphe, prince de Stolberg-Geldern. She married
prince Charles Edward, the last of the Stuart family. She wore the title of
countess d’Albany and had a liaison with Alfieri the italian poet. She left Paris
in 1792 and mainly lived in Florence where she died in 1817. Other portraits of
this lady by Fabre may be found in Musée Fabre of Montpellier (France).
[Identification by Olivier Blanc.]
c. 1785 "François-Guillaume
Ménageot," oil on canvas, 32 5/8" x 30 3/4", Versailles.
Lived 1744-1816. [Image supplied by Maialen Berasategui.] Joseph Baillio
determined this painting is by Marie-Victoire Lemoine, in Gazette des Beaux
Arts, April 1996, p. 129.
c. 1796 "Young Woman
with a Dog," oil on canvas, oval, National Museum of Art, Bucharest,
Romania. Photo from Witt Library. Joseph Baillio discusses the painting
in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, April 1996, pp. 13-14 (or p. 138?),
identifying the artist as Marie Victoire Lemoine. The painting had been
misidentified as being by VLB, and the presence of the dog led some to believe
that it was VLB’s 1768-72 painting of "Mme d’Aguesseau with her dog."
The painting was portrayed on a Romanian stamp in 1969, as a VLB portrait of
Mme d’Aguesseau (without showing a date). However, the Neoclassical costume
dates from the end of the century, so it certainly can’t be a painting from
1768-72.
1785 "? Mdm Therese Budan
de Russe ?," oil on canvas, oval, 27 3/4" x 22 3/8",
location unknown. Joseph Baillio determined this painting is by Marie-Victoire
Lemoine, in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 1996, p. 149.
"Madame le Sénéchal,"
oil on canvas, oval, location unknown, is by Marie-Victoire Lemoine, per Joseph
Baillio’s article in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 1996, p. 150.
"Young girl holding a vine," pastel, 17 3/4" x
15", location unknown. Joseph Baillio determined this painting is by
Marie-Victoire Lemoine, in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 1996, p. 152.
"Louis Henry
Gabiou, Playing a Violin," oil on canvas, 54.5 x 47 cm, Snite Museum
of Art, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. International Studio, May
1925, cover. Joseph Baillio determined this painting is by Marie-Victoire
Lemoine, in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 1996, p. 154. Presumably a
nephew, as the artist’s sister, Marie Elisabeth Lemoine, became Mdm Gabiou.
"? Mlle Baconnière
de Salverte ?," oil on canvas, 73 x 58 cm, location unknown.
Previously owned by the countess of Ginestous, a close friend of the Princess
de Lamballe. Published in Vigée Le Brun, her life, works and friendship,
by William Henry Helm. Mme de Salverte was the wife of a fermier général
fascinated by the theâtre. Mme Anne Marie Passez published a very
similar portrait [*] of this sitter, but attributed both of them to Labille
Guiard, instead of to VLB. She also felt that the sitter was not Mme de
Salverte, but rather was the Comtesse de Clermont-Tonnerre, based on
similarities to VLB’s portrait. Joseph Baillio attributes this painting to
Marie-Victoire Lemoine, in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 1996, p. 158.
So questions remain about the attribution and identification of these two
paintings. Born Victoire de Vaucanson, she married count Salvert, écuyer
cavalcadour de la reine. She was born ca. 1753. [Biographical information
by Olivier Blanc.]
"Mme Dietrich,"
oval, unlocated. Amélie de Berckeim, wife of M. Fritz de Dietrich. Mrs
de Dietrich d’Holbach , daughter in law of baron et baronne d’Holbach. [Image
and information from Olivier Blanc.] Believed painted by Marie-Victoire
Lemoine.
"Self Portrait With a Lute," oil on canvas, 32" x
25", Private Collector. This is by Rose Ducreux, according to research by
Olivier Blanc.
"Mlle Duthé," Musée de Peinture et de
Sculpture, Grenoble. In The Sweetness of Life, p. 57, Angelica Goodden
states that this is a mediocre portrait, and definitely not by VLB.
Jeanne-Marie-Ignace-Theresa Cabarrus (1773-1835),
daughter of the Spanish banker, Francois Cabarrus. In 1788, she married Jean
Jacques Devin, Marquis de Fontenay. They divorced, and she was imprisoned
during the Terror. Her life was spared by Jean Lambert Tallien (1767-1820), who
married her in 1794. She pleaded with Tallien to save the lives of many others,
and became known as Madame Thermidor, after the 9th of Thermidor. Divorced in
1802, in 1807 she married her third and last husband, Victor Maurice Riquet
Caraman-Chimay. The gipsy-queen of Paris; being the story of Madame Tallien
by whom Robespierre fell, by R. McNair Wilson (London, Chapman & Hall
Ltd. [1934]), says that she commisioned a portrait of herself by VLB in 1789
and went nearly every day to her studio at the Rue St.Honoré. [Information from
Jana Talkenberg.] However, it appears that VLB only lived on Rue St.Honoré from
1768 to 1775, much too early to have painted Mdm Tallien there. She then moved
to the Rue de Cléry, and in 1789 had just moved to the adjacent Rue de
Gros-Chenet. For comparison, here’s a portrait
by Gerard, and portrait two and three by other artists.
"Lady with a
Sheet of Music," oil on canvas, 92.5 x 69.3 cm, Kurpfalzisches Museum,
Heidelberg, Germany. Appears to be an adaptation after VLB's 1782 self
portrait.
Gentleman, oil on canvas, oval, 23 1/2" x 18 1/2"
(59.6 x 47 cm). Sold at Christie’s, London, 9 Feb 1979. Sold again as a
"Circle of Vigée Le Brun" by Koller Auktionen, September 21, 2007
(Lot 03118) for $6,096.
Please refer to the very extensive bibliography
published in the following dissertation for the Università degli Studi di
Padova: Lucia Cardellini, Elisabeth Vigée Le
Brun e Le Sue Suggestioni Fiamminghe e Olandesi (S.M. Legatoria,
Padova: 2000), pp. 257-272.
References not cited by Cardellini include:
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, April 1996
