Skip to main content

Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, 'Baronne de Crussol Florensac', 1785

 


With the bold choice of a wide-brimmed hat to frame the face of the sitter, the viewer's eye meets the fleeting gaze of the Baroness de Crussol Florensac. The artist's recurring interest in lighting that can be traced throughout her portraits (for instance, Self Portrait with a Straw Hat now in London's National Gallery) is illuminated on the face here. The choice of pose is unusual, but allows the face of the Baroness to be bathed in a soft, angelic glow. With her lips slightly parted, and with a fleeting smile, she seems to be briefly acknowledging the viewer but with little interest. Not only is she elegance personified, but her social status as a member of the aristocracy is also emphasised.

The composition is balanced and harmonious, as is the colouration of the piece. The dark, wide hat complements the fur tailoring on the dress of the figure, promoting Vigee's virtuosic capabilities in rendering texture. Atop the hat sits a halo of red fabric, almost crowning the figure in luxurious materiality. The careful attention to the folds of fabric further emphasises the importance of luxury to the figure. Even the lace that slips out of the sleeve seems tactile, the figure entering our own world yet separated from us both by her status, her twisted pose and the plush, green chaise lounge that creates distance between the real world and this world of luxury. 

Little is known about the Baroness, but her elegance, wealth and grace are all made evident by the artist. At this point in her career, Vigee was exhibiting regularly at the Salon of the Academie in Paris. She operated in aristocratic circles, aided by her social skills and natural charm. The piece of music that the Baroness holds is a score of opera music by Christoph Gluck who happened to be the favoured composer of Marie Antoinette. It provides an interesting crossover between Vigee's elite patrons. Vigee would eventually travel from Paris on the eve of revolution through Italy, Austria and Russia, all the while producing paintings for great sums of money. She was taught mainly by her father, which was often the case for women of this century if they were to achieve anything akin to success in the arts. However her father died when she was only twelve, so mostly self taught all her life, she built a career for herself, by herself. Only recently has she been re-accepted as a key artist of her time. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cellini, 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa', 1545-1554

  My eye is immediately drawn to the head of Medusa. At first glance it looks gruesome, as though Cellini has captured the moment just after the head has been decapitated, and it oozes blood and bodily matter. However the viewer then notices the similarity between that and Medusa's hair. Maybe it is just her hair after all. Cellini has cleverly enticed the viewer in here, to take a closer look and therefore involved them in the sculpture as a whole. Once they do come closer, they begin to notice other things such as the similarity between Perseus' hair and Medusa's snakes. Hero and monster are not so separate. Even the features of their faces are very similar. Perhaps Cellini wants to suggest that evil can often wear the mask of good. Or he could even be implying that everyone has some evil within them, even the hero Perseus.  One of the good things about sculpture is that the viewer is able to walk around it, and fully immerse themselves in the piece. Cellini has used this...

Guccio di Mannaia, 'Chalice for Pope Nicholas IV', 13th century

  As the only work remaining of Sienese goldsmith Guccio di Mannaia, the chalice he created for Pope Nicholas IV in the late thirteenth century is an incredibly important work of art. Not only does it highlight the rich, opulent nature of papal commissions, but it proves the talent of Sienese goldsmiths and their resulting influence on painters and sculptors of the period. The chalice is innovative in shape and form, but it is striking first and foremost through the use of gold. It is an object that deserves to be viewed in the flesh, because of its reflective and therefore mimetic potential – like a bronze sculpture it is activated by light and should be experienced in the round as a three-dimensional, highly decorated art object. Its complicated design features an almost architectonic base, star-like as it spills out towards the viewer. The base builds up into the stem of the chalice which is decorated with an array of enamelled plaques featuring saints, prophets, angels and furt...

Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Jael and Sisera', c.1620

  My eye firstly notices the hand wielding the hammer above the unsuspecting man's head. Gentileschi is depicting a new and particularly horrible kind of weapon here instead of the huge sword she gave Judith to slice Holofernes' head off in 1620. The tent peg seems all the more violent, especially as the viewer is looking at the split second before the deed has been committed. Moreover, the gaze of the women (Jael) is focused and calm, making the piece seem unnerving. This is not a moment of hesitation but a snapshot of action - the woman has made up her mind and will commit to this murder. The viewer can only imagine how Gentileschi would have depicted the bloody aftermath, in her usual violent and tenebristic way. The fact that the artist has signed her name in the tomb-like stone above the man is significant - she is signing his life away in this painting, sending him swiftly to the grave.  The body of the man (Sisera) is also interestingly depicted. He lies in a rather eff...