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1779
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Year when Élisabeth

Royal Portraits painted Marie Antoinette
Vigée Le Brun first

• Le Brun earned a living
by painting portraits of
created. They did not think people.
women could produce • She also painted many
Le Brun fine art. Marie-Louise self-portraits. She had to
painted this Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun view herself in a mirror
self-portrait in helped change people’s as she worked on these

1782. opinions. paintings.
• She created more than

Le Brun was born in 1755 600 paintings.
in Paris, France. From an early
age, she liked to draw. Her father
was also an artist. He encouraged
her to paint. But after his death, Le
Brun mostly had to teach herself. A portrait of
Marie Antoinette

Le Brun became a gifted portrait painted by the
artist. She had an ability to make artist in 1783.
people look elegant and relaxed in
her paintings. People all over France
admired her work. Rich nobles hired
her to paint their portraits. Even the HAVING A PORTRAIT PAINTED
Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, Before the 1800s, people did not have cameras. They could not
Before the 1700s, there were few
wanted to sit for Le Brun. The artist take selfies. If they wanted a picture of themselves, they had to
successful female artists. Art
painted more than 20 portraits of hire an artist. The artist would then paint their portrait. Sitting
schools did not like to accept them
the queen. for a portrait was not easy. People had to stay still for hours
as students. Women had a difficult at a time as the artist worked. It could take days or weeks to
time getting training. Also, people Le Brun died in 1842. She is complete a portrait. Some portraits took artists years to paint.
did not value what women considered the most gifted portrait
8 9
painter of her time.