Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun
French Neoclassical Portrait Painter
1755-1842
Artistically and stylistically influenced the following painters and art periods - Francois Boucher, Jacques-Louis David, Raphael, Michelangelo, Nicolas Poussin and Piero della Francesca
Education - learned to the basics of painting in her fathers (Louis Vigée) studio, he chocked to death on a fish bone when she just 13. She is primary self-taught.
Cause of Death - Old Age, she was 87
|
|
|
Marie Louise Elizabeth Vigee le Brun Quotations
"We reached Naples at about three or four o'clock. I cannot describe the
impression I received upon entering the town. That burning sun, that
stretch of sea, those islands seen in the distance, that Vesuvius with a
great column of smoke ascending from it, and the very population so
animated and so noisy, who differ so much from the Roman that one might
suppose they were a thousand miles apart." -- Elizabeth Vigee le Brun
Quote from her Diary
"We even saw from a distance young men naked on horseback, who were thus
bathing with their horses. In any other country one would have been
shocked by this, but the Russian people are really primitively
ingenuous. In the winter husband, wife and children sleep together on
the stove; if the stove is not large enough, they lie on wooden benches
lining their hut, wrapped up simply in their sheepskins. These good
people have kept the customs of the ancient patriarchs." -- Elizabeth
Vigee le Brun Quote from her Diary
"The Empress Maria was a very handsome woman; her plumpness kept her
fresh. "-- Elizabeth Vigee le Brun
"The beauty of her heavenly face, that expressed benevolence and
goodness, and whose features were so regular and delicate, the
loveliness of her figure, neck, and arms, the exquisite freshness of her
complexion – all was enchanting beyond anything imaginable." --
Elizabeth Vigee le Brun Quote from her Diary
"I will not attempt to describe my feelings at setting foot on the soil
of France, from which I had been absent twelve years. I was stirred by
terror, grief and joy in turn. I mourned the friends who had died on the
scaffold; but I was to see those again who still lived. " -- Elizabeth
Vigee le Brun Quote from her Diary
The period is called neoclassical because its artists looked back to the art and culture of classical Greece and Rome. The spread of Neoclassical Art was primarily inspired by recent roman archeological excavations, including Pompeii and by gay art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann. In his scholarly writings, Winckelmann, gushed over the homoeroticism of Greco-Roman art, writing explicit descriptions of erotic nude male sculptures from Classical Antiquity thereby encouraging an interest in Greek antiquities. Neoclassical art is characterized by its classical form and structure, clarity, and to an degree, realism.
French Neoclassism painters emphasis's patriotism, as well as a sense of civility and honorableness. The movement was particularly connected with the beliefs of the French Revolution and was seen as anti-aristocratic. The fantasy-based aristocratic art of the Rococo seemed an insult upon the rights of men and was vilified by critics and the general public. In an age of sweeping revolution and transformation Neoclassicism became the art of change.
French painter Jacques-Louis David was infatuated with the former grandeur of Rome and even painted the tiny, pudgy Napoleon as a magnificent warrior astride a white stallion. Mythology, folklore, legends, and the calm grandeur of a bygone era were all favored themes for Neoclassical painters.
Famous Artists of the Neoclassical Movement
James Barry Irish, 1741-1806
Antonio Canova
Italian, 1757-1822
Jacques-Louis David
French, 1748-1825
Jules Elie
Delaunay French, 1828-1891
Francois Gerard
French, 1770-1837
Antoine-Jean Gros
French, 1771-1835
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres French, 1780-1867
Angelica
Kauffmann Swiss, 1741-1807
Rembrandt Peale
American, 1778-1860
Bertel
Thorvaldsen Danish, 1770-1844
John Trumbull
American, 1756-1843
Elisabeth
Vigee-Lebrun French, 1755-1842
Benjamin West
American, 1738-1820
Require more information about Elizabeth Louise
Vigee Le Brun
in Art History? Type your query in art into the google search box below and poke
around every nook and cranny of the known universe for information
this subject.
Do you know something we don't? If you have comment or would like to share an insight regarding Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun in Art History, please submit your comment to the editor, via e-mail and if possible site the source. Thank you!
© HistoryofPainters.com If you like this page and wish to share
it, you are welcome to link to it, with our thanks.
| links | artist biographies | top 50 painters | art supplies | book store |
| site map | art movements | artist quotations | iconography | 100 greatest paintings |