Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
1774
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger is a 1774 unspecified by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This is a close-up portrait of an older man with short gray hair, wearing a simple work shirt. His face looks tired but kind, with a small smile and sharp eyes that seem to really see you. The man is a famous French sculptor, painted here by a young artist who knew him well. Instead of fancy clothes or poses, she shows him in his everyday work clothes—like a snapshot of a real moment. It’s rare for portraits of artists to feel this personal. If you like this quiet, honest style, look up *Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (French, 1755–1842)*.
This signed portrait reinterprets a well-known pastel by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour of the important French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the younger (1704–1778). The sculptor, seen toward the end of his life, appears in working garb. His close-cropped grey hair, frank, observant stare, and bemused smile all demonstrate the closeness of the young painter to the elder sculptor. The work also speaks to Vigée-LeBrun’s interest in naturalistic portraiture (as opposed to her more formal, commissioned portraits), and—in the handling of the paint as well as her source image—her debt to pastel…
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne was a sculptor--there's one of his works in the CMA's collection.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French: ; née Vigée; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait…
See the richer artist page
