La Princesse Radziwill 1800 - 1801

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, a woman artist of the 18th century, made this portrait of La Princesse Radziwill using pastel. Consider the implications of a woman painting a woman in this period. Le Brun was not only a woman, but she was the portrait painter to Marie Antoinette. During the late 1700s, she was admitted into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, one of the few women to be awarded the honor. Looking closely, we can ask, how did the status of the artist influence the presentation of the sitter, and vice versa? How did the artist represent her female sitter and what visual codes did she use to suggest her sitter’s status? These are just some of the questions an art historian might ask, by researching primary documents, such as letters, biographies, and exhibition reviews, we can understand the social and institutional contexts of this work. The meaning of art is always contingent on its time.