Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun
Portrait of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
Oil on canvas, 1783
One of Marie Antoinette's favorite painters, Vigée-Lebrun created this semiformal portrait of the queen in a graden assembling a small bouquet of roses and jasmine, in the summer of 1783. The painting was shown at the annual exhibition of the French Royal Academy of Arts in September 1783, having been substituted at the last minute for a portrait of the queen in a straw hat and an informal dress that was concidered scandalous. In the same year, on Marie Antoinette's recommendation, Vigée-Lebrun was named a member of the French Royal Academy, holding one of four places reserved for female artists.
image: 2004.12.21
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