Full Description
The most accomplished female painter of her age, Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) is best remembered for her many portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Her two-volume autobiography was published in France in 1835-7, and this English version (of which the translator is unknown) in 1879. It begins with a series of letters to a Russian friend, Princess Kourakin, describing her family and early life, her artistic training, and her rise to the position of portraitist to the queen. The letters end with the Revolution and Vigée-Lebrun's flight abroad: the 'souvenirs' which follow describe her years of exile and her eventual return to France. Throughout her life, she supported herself and her family by her painting. Volume 2 recounts her extended stay in Russia, where she painted many of the aristocracy, a brief return to Paris, a visit to England, and her final return to France.
Contents
1. I leave Vienna; 2. Peterhoff; 3. Comte Cobentzel; 4. I paint the two young grand-duchesses; 5. The cold at St Petersburg; 6. The lake of Pergola; 7. Catherine; 8. Paul I; 9. Portrait of the empress Marie; 10. My reception by the St Petersburg Academy; 11. A bad road; 12. Death of Paul I; 13. Narva; 14. I leave Berlin; 15. I arrive in Paris; 16. London; 17. The Prince of Wales; 18. The Chinnery family; 19. I leave England; 20. Louveciennes; 21. The queen's portrait; 22. Cruel losses I sustained in my family; Postscriptum by the editor.
