Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Painting royalty, fleeing revolution | National Gallery

18世紀の女性職業画家、エリザベート・ヴィジェ・ルブラン。シングルマザーの彼女は、一人娘との生活のためにヨーロッパ中を巡り旅していました。今も昔も女性が一人で生きることはタフですよね。きっと私たちは彼女から希望と勇気をもらえるはず。Vigée Le Brun, an 18th-century female professional painter, was a single mother who traveled all over Europe to live with her only daughter. Now and in the past, it is tough for a woman to live alone. Yet, we can surely get hope and courage from her.

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Painting royalty, fleeing revolution -- National Gallery

1)

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun was an 18th-century French portrait painter.

She became incredibly famous at the end of the 18th century in France.

And then, with the revolution, she packed up her bags, took her daughter, and traveled all over Europe.

She was a mighty woman; she was incredibly modern in her work ethic, in the way that she made a reputation, got out there, and conquered the European portrait market.

CHAPTER 1

GOING HER WAY

2)

Vigée Brun was born in Paris in 1755.

She started from a relatively modest background.

She had some training early on from her father, an artist.

But he died when she was only 12, so it was not as if she'd got a lengthy apprenticeship with him.

But the family was connected in artistic circles.

3)

And she knew enough other artists to be able to encourage her to continue her studies.

Probably that was a real game-changer because, for a woman in the 18th century, there were no formal courses for becoming an artist.

4)

But she was also very aggressive and independent, so she was producing portraits by the time she was 14, undoubtedly contributing to the family income.

She was a fully established artist working in her own right.

5)

I mean, that would be extraordinary if you were a male artist.

But to be a female artist as well it's even more breathtaking.

It didn't stop her from always getting into trouble.

6)

When she was about 19, she had all her brushes and her artist's material confiscated.

Because she'd been so successful, she'd come to the attention of the authorities.

And she didn't have membership of either a Guild or an Academie. So she'd just gone and done it anyway.

7)

Having been slapped on the wrist, she very quickly went off.

And she got a Guild membership to continue this exciting career.

CHAPTER 2

THE BREADWINNER

8)

She was married to a picture dealer.

But the marriage dissolved quite quickly because he was gambling away all her money.

She was the one who looked after their daughter and traveled around Europe, and there were letters in which she said you know how hard I had to work to keep a nursemaid to keep a roof over our heads to get a tutor for our daughter.

She's driven and working incredibly hard to make that life and lifestyle work for her family.

9)

Vigée Le Brun was predominantly known for her portraits.

She skyrocketed to fame in the late 1770s because she was the first portraitist who could produce a good likeness of the young Marie Antoinette.

10)

On the one hand, she did produce this kind of formal state portrait.

On the other, she created images that were much more kind of maternal and tender, like Mademoiselle Brongniart.

With her bag, this lovely young, cheeky-looking girl pulled the wool out of it.

And it was that Vigée Le Brun became known for being able to paint portraits that convey a sort of emotional tenor as well.

That is a self-portrait where we meet Vigée Le Brun.

11)

She's staring at us very confidently, wearing these beautiful fine clothes, so she's dressed up in this beautiful finery.

But in her hand, she's also holding her artist's material.

Her palette with these great being globs of paint all over it, you can see her brushes which she's been using.

It's because the ends of them have little bits of color.

12)

On the one hand, she's this very young, beautiful, beautifully dressed woman.

And on the other hand, quite literally, in her other hand is her profession.

That is a self-portrait that says:

I'm an artist.

I'm also a woman.

I can do both.

13)

And even more than that, it's also a self-portrait correcting the old masters.

For example, Rubens painted a portrait of a young woman in a hat.

It was always known as 'The Straw Hat.'

But if you look at it, you'll see it's not a straw hat.

And Vigée Le Brun saw this portrait in Brussels, and then she came back, painted her self-portrait, and corrected the mistake.

So look at her here in her beautiful straw hat.

She compared herself to Rubens; she said, I can go one better.

CHAPTER 3

BY ORDER OF THE KING!

14)

It is just a fact that there are fewer paintings by women artists at the National Gallery than there are by male artists.

But I think you have to consider the period we cover.

Vigée Le Brun grew up clearly before the revolution, and so she was very much in that world that was a strictly hierarchized art world.

15)

To operate as an artist in Paris, you had to be a member of the Guild or the Academie Royale.

But the Academie was not exactly open to women.

They made a limit in the 18th century to say they won't admit more than four women at any given time.

16)

If you're a female artist and join the Academie, you immediately have this great community of peers.

However, you can only exhibit at the salon if you're a woman.

You don't get any of the lessons.

You don't get to draw from live models.

You can't let a woman go anywhere near a naked man.

So it is just a different world.

17)

Vigée Le Brun got a membership to the Academie Royale.

But she got it in a rather unusual way.

Instead of the usual strict admittance procedures, the king just admitted her point-blank one day, clearly at his wife's urging.

And you can imagine how her fellow male academicians felt about this.

She had this kind of incredibly prestigious door open for her.

18)

If I stop and think about it, I'm a young woman at the beginning of the 21st century.

The opportunities I've had would have been unimaginable to somebody, a woman, in the late 18th century.

So I look at someone like Vigée Le Brun, and I think, my goodness, a trailblazer, an absolute powerhouse.

19)

To have the strength of your convictions, the passion, and the drive to do that then.

We're dealing with many of the same issues.

Women are still trying to be taken seriously at work.

They are still trying to juggle work and families.

Women have been doing this successfully for hundreds of years, and we're only going to get better at it.

Ref) 

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Painting royalty, fleeing revolution - National Gallery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqhrpkhX2uA

The Remarkable Talent Of Elizabeth Vigée Lebrun | Portraits of Marie Antoinette Pt. 1 | Perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySe8UXC32Eg 

The Prolonged Exile Of France's Finest Artist | Portraits of Marie Antoinette Part 2 | Perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGm5HM_TTc0