Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes
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| Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun |
| Year | 1789 |
| Medium | Oil on wood |
| Subject | Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes |
| Dimensions | 107 cm × 83.2 cm (42.125 in × 32.75 in)[1] |
| Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA |
Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes is an oil painting by the French artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. It was painted in 1789 and is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
Description[edit]
The artistic style of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun does not easily fit into one category. The era in which she painted saw the death of the Rococo with the fall of the Ancien Régime and the rise of the Neoclassical alongside the French Revolution. She implemented characteristics of both styles into her work including the high-toned colors and loose brushstrokes characteristic of the Rococo with elements of antiquity favored by the Neoclassicists. Her style therefore can best be characterized as “transitional”. Her main subjects however were often female sitters, whom she portrayed in an informal yet flattering style that contrasted with the often stiffly formal portraits of upper-class people created in this era.
Vigée Le Brun’s models were not always dressed in styles that were purely fashionable. Instead, she often sought to depict her subjects in costumes or allegorical form to convey messages and statements or allude to current events. This portrait of Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes is an example, portraying an aristocratic sitter in an outfit that, although showing some elements of fashionable dress, is a costume. Its date of 1789 means that this portrait was either completed just before or at the beginning of the social upheaval of the French Revolution of 1789. The subject has an elaborate stylish hairstyle topped with a turban and worn with a jacket, which reflects the vogue for "Turkish style" dress in the late 18th century. Besides being a display of fashionable trends these "Turkish" elements suggest what Europeans saw as an “exotic” culture, bringing to mind a sense of escape from the situation in France.[2] This style may also allude to the greater acceptance of non-western ideas in Europe due to the Enlightenment.[2] The loose white gown recalls another foreign culture, as it is similar in appearance to the simpler gowns worn by women in ancient Greece and Rome.[2] This is a nod to the idealization of these ancient cultures in 18th-century Europe, and an acknowledgment of the influence of these cultures on Enlightenment thought and culture, such as their emphasis on democratic and republican values.[2] The gown is also likely symbolic of the artistic shift to Neoclassicalism taking place in France at this time. Finally, this simpler style of dress which was popular in England, along with the imported English cameo she wears, bring to mind England and its governmental system, a parliamentary monarchy, which at the beginning of the Revolution was seen as a possible model for France.[2] In these symbolic ways, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun communicates to the viewer the politics and ideas of 18th-century Europe through her model’s dress and appearance.
References[edit]
This article "Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Madame d'Aguesseau de Fresnes. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
