Image
Johann Gotthard von Müller, engraver
Description
Maker
- After Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1755-1842, French, designer
- Johann Gotthard von Müller, 1747-1830, German, engraver
Title
Year
Medium
Materials/Techniques
-
Materials
Dimensions
-
Sheet: 43.6 x 31.8 cm (17 3/16 x 12 1/2 inches)
Signature / Inscription / Marks
-
Lettered UC: "Muller Sc."
Identification
-
State
i/iii (proof before letters) Type
Credit
-
Gift of Alice G. Taft, Marianna F. Taft, Hope Smith and Brockholst M. Smith
Object Number
-
45.113.63
About
Staring directly at the viewer, her eyes shadowed by a wide-brimmed straw hat, Vigée-Lebrun portrays herself as a confident, youthful painter. She proudly displays a palette and brushes: tools of her trade and symbols of her professional identity. This lively engraving is based on a self-portrait Vigée-Lebrun painted in 1782, in which she made reference to The Straw Hat, a painting by Peter Paul Rubens she had seen in Antwerp. One of only two female members of the Royal Academy at that time, Vigée-Lebrun was forced to flee France during the French Revolution due her connection to her major patron, Queen Marie Antoinette. Returning to France from exile 12 years later, she continued a successful career as a portraitist of the new social and intellectual elites.
Lettered UC: "Muller Sc."