Madame Etienne Vigée

Madame Etienne Vigée from 1785 portrays the artist’s sister-in-law, reflecting the close family connections that characterized Vigée Le Brun’s world. The artist maintained close relationships with her extended family throughout her life, and portraits of family members reveal a more intimate, less formally flattering approach than her commissioned society portraits. Vigée Le Brun was the most technically accomplished and socially successful woman painter of the eighteenth century, achieving membership of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783 and a clientele that extended from the French royal family to the courts of Russia, Austria, and Italy during her decade of exile following the Revolution. Her portrait manner combined the neoclassical formal values of her training with a quality of feminine intimacy and emotional warmth that made her portraits of women and children especially celebrated. Her ability to make her sitters appear simultaneously dignified and approachable was the technical foundation of her social success.

The familial connection allows a more natural, relaxed treatment than formal commissions. Vigée Le Brun’s handling is looser and warmer, suggesting personal affection in the soft modeling and direct expression.