Philobiblon

There’s much to admire about Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, and not just that she deserves to be placed high indeed in the ranks of the painters of history. Some of them I’ve learnt from reading Gita May’s biography, subtitled The Odyssey of an Artist in the Age of Revolution.

Unlike many women of the early modern period, she didn’t immediately try to disassociate herself from other prominent female artists. When asked to contribute ta self-portrait for the Grand Ducal Gallery at the Uffizi, she was expecially pleased that among the contemporary self-portrats in the collection was one by Angelica Kauffmann, who she greatly admired as “one of the glories of our sex”. (And she would go out of her way to vsit Angelica soon after she arrived in Rome.) p. 81

And I entirely sympathise with her approach to the sites… “She preferred going by herself to the churches, galleries, and palaces where artworks were to be seen so as to avoid having her enjoyment spoiled by idle conversation.” (p. 85)

And she was a fan of Catherine the Great of Russia, taking “obvious pleasure in stressing the fact that Catherine’s accomplishments as a great monarch were on a par with those of the most notable rulers”. (p. 135)

Yet, somehow, its hard to really warm to her. Perhaps it is because she was a fervent and unwavering monarchist who was never able to understand why anyone would want a revolution; in part perhaps it is because most of her art swings far too far in the direction of sentimentality for our taste, although her portriat of Hubert Robert shows her true potential when that inclination is suppressed.

As a biography this seems flat, but then I’ve had several goes at Vigee Le Brun and she always seems a little so… It raises the question: does a great artist have to be a great character? Maybe not, but it certainly helps in promulgating their fame.