Saturday, November 1, 2014

A Self Portrait

We have so many wonderful museums in Ft. Worth, but my favorite is The Kimbell. We visited this week with our guests from Houston

Click on photo to enlarge
This painting , part of the permanent collection at the Kimball, has always been a favorite of mine....and with the invention of the Internet....I love that we can find out more about an artist.

This is actually a self portrait of Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le-Braun painted when she of twenty seven years old.
Elisabeth is recognized as the most famous female artist of the 18th century.
Born in France in 1755 she was a portrait painter. Most famous for the thirty portraits she did of Marie Antoinette. She fled France during the French Revolution and continued to paint royalty all over Europe. While in exile  for twelve years she live in Austria, Italy and Russia.
She did return to France and continued painting until her death at age eighty seven.

* photographs of most of the permanent collection are allowed without a flash. 

4 comments:

  1. I always think it is so difficult to paint yourself in a mirror. A wonderful beautiful portrait.

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  2. I wonder if the female artists in that era knew one another? Have you read any of Tracy Chevalier novels that focus on art and females? If not, you might enjoy her plots and writing.

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