Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun (1755-1842) (after)
Alexander Roslin (1718-1793) (originally attributed to)
Monanteuil (drawing – revised composition)
Roger (engraver)
Chatain (printer)
Marie Antoinette de Lorraine-d'Autriche, Reine de France
[Marie Antoinette of Lorraine of Austria, Queen of France]
Pieri-Benard, Paris: May 17, 1828
Black and white aquatint and etching
26.75 x 20.25 inches, image
27.5 x 21 inches, platemark
32 x 24.25 inches, overall
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
Engraving after Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, 1828
Engraving after Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, 1828
This item is sold. It has been placed here in our online archives as a service for researchers and collectors.
- Please inquire as to the availability of similar items currently in stock, or use the navigation bar above to browse our site for currently available items.
- Find guidelines for the use of images from georgeglazer.com.
- To see more archived items, view our directory.
- Find information about selling your art and antiques.
Large formal portrait print of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1755-1793). Wearing a stylish 18th-century wig and feathered headdress, she is dressed in an elaborate ruffled gown that has the scale of a piece of furniture. She stands before a landscape framed by a massive velvet drape tied back with tassels and two large marble columns, her head turned toward the right where a shaft of light makes her face, shoulders, and the fabric of her dress seem to glow. On the left is a table with a bouquet and a crown resting on a pillow.
The print is listed in La Bibliographie de La France (1811-1881), which signified a print’s authorization for distribution in France, and was registered on May 17, 1828, as item number 382. (See McKee in the References below for the full listing.)
Although the print lists a painting by "Roslin the Swede" as the source, the work is based on a painting by Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, a prominent French artist who was a friend and confidant of Marie Antoinette, and painted about 30 portraits of her between 1778 and 1788. One of these, dated 1779 and now in the collection of the national museum at Versailles, reverses the image horizontally but is otherwise identical in most respects. For the print, the image was redrawn with the background embellished and made grander than the original -- the bouquet is larger, the drape has been decorated with fringe and tassels, and the scene has been moved from an interior to a fanciful architectural setting that seems to be indoors and outdoors at the same time. The listing of this work in the official database of French museums, the Base Joconde, states that the work was formerly attributed to Alexander Roslin, and appeared in a reference book with that attribution as late as 1880.
Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun was a French painter, best known for her portraits of royalty and the aristocracy in France and elsewhere in Europe from during the last quarter of the 18th and first third of the 19th centuries. Closely associated with the French royalty before the revolution, she achieved membership in the French Academy in 1783, despite the barriers to entry for women, in part due to the influence of her friend and patron Marie Antoinette. After the French Revolution in 1789, she fled abroad and worked in Italy, Austria, and Russia, where her patrons included the family of Catherine the Great. She was able to return to France during the reign of Napoleon I, but continued to travel and receive portrait commissions in England and Switzerland. She was also honored with membership in several European art academies. She published her memoirs in 1835 and 1837. Vigée-Le Brun's works are in the major museums of the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, Versailles, the Wallace Collection in London and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Inscriptions beneath print (from left): Peint par Rosslins le Suédois. Dessiné par Monenteuil. 1828. Imprimé par Chatain. Gravé par B. Roger. In the lower right corner beneath the title, is engraved, "Morte à l'âge de 37 ans." [Died at age 37.]
References:
"Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/08/0894/T089458.asp (22 December 2006).
"Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun." Wikipedia. 27 November 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Vigee-Lebrun (22 December 2006).
"Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche, Reine de France (1755-1793). Nos. Inventaire MV 3892 ; INV 3060 ; LP 3591." Base Joconde. http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr (22 December 2006).
McKee, George, ed. "17 mai 1828, no. 382." ImofFr at ARTFL. 22 December 2006. http://artfl.uchicago.edu/ (22 December 2006).