Porträt der Luise von Preußen (1770-1836), Ehefrau von Anton Radziwiłł (1775-1833)
Historical Context
Vigée Le Brun's 1802 portrait of Luise von Preußen, wife of Prince Anton Radziwiłł, belongs to her long period of exile from France, during which she portrayed the aristocracy of Austria, Russia, and the German states. Luise was a Prussian princess by birth who had married into the Polish-Lithuanian aristocracy; by 1802 both her homeland and her husband's had been fundamentally transformed by Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Vigée Le Brun captures her with the elegance and composure that characterized the painter's aristocratic ideal, the Metropolitan Museum of Art holding this work as representative of the painter's European exile period.
Technical Analysis
The portrait shows Vigée Le Brun's mature international style: confident, smooth, with a warm palette that flatters without falsifying. The sitter is presented three-quarter length with decorative accessories rendered carefully. The face has the slightly idealized quality — youth, serenity, good breeding — that made Vigée Le Brun's portraits so prized across Europe.
