Artwork
Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. It dates from 1782 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: L. Vigée LeBrun, 1782; reverse: Presented by the Empress Eugenie to Earl Sydney in memory of her son, the Prince Imperial, to whom it belonged
About this work
Technique & Style
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun executed Madame du Barry in 1782 using oil paint on canvas, a standard support for her formal portrait practice.
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun executed Madame du Barry in 1782 using oil paint on canvas, a standard support for her formal portrait practice. The work is classified as a portrait genre painting and measures approximately 114.94 by 89.54 cm in a vertical orientation.
As a representative example of late eighteenth-century French portraiture, the painting reflects Vigée Le Brun's characteristic handling of the oil medium, employing fluid brushwork and a polished surface treatment suited to flattering aristocratic likenesses. The canvas support provided the scale and stability necessary for a full-length or three-quarter-length composition of this kind.
History & Provenance
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun created the oil-on-canvas portrait Madame du Barry in 1782. The documented ownership begins with William A. Clark, who held the painting until his death in 1925 and bequeathed it to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remained from 1926 until 2014. In 2014, the National Gallery of Art acquired the work through its acquisition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s holdings, establishing its current location.
Overview
This oil on canvas painting, titled Madame du Barry, was created in 1782 by the French artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. It presents a formal portrait of its namesake, capturing her within a naturalistic setting. The work exemplifies Vigée Le Brun's approach to portraiture, combining elegance with a sense of the sitter's individual presence.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait depicts Madame du Barry in a garden, attired in a light green silk gown adorned with lace. Her hair is styled elaborately with flowers, complementing the bouquet she holds. She adopts a composed yet relaxed posture, with one hand resting gently on a stone bench.
The background features trees beneath a somewhat indistinct, dark sky, situating the sitter in an idealized natural environment.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
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…
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